Testimony begins in drifter's death penalty retrial

A drifter convicted of killing two Massachusetts men is getting a second chance to prove he should not be sentenced to death.

A re-trial in the penalty phase of Gary Sampson’s case got underway Wednesday.

Sampson was found guilty of killing 69-year-old Philip McCloskey and 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo in 2001 during a weeklong crime rampage. Because of a technicality in the first trial,  the jury has to hear everything all over again and decide whether Sampson should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

For the victims’ families, it’s bringing up a lot of pain.

"It's just a flood of memories coming back and we're going through this again. I still don't understand why,” said Michael Rizzo, Jonathan’s father.

Thirteen years later, Michael had to sit in the same courtroom Wednesday with his son's killer, hearing every detail of the horrific crime.

“And it's all for the same purpose. To spare the life of someone who frankly doesn't deserve it,” said Michael Rizzo, Jonathan's father

A judge threw out his first death sentence and ordered a new penalty trial because a juror wasn't up front about something when picked to be on the first penalty trial.

“This is hard. It's hard for all of us. I mean we've been through this already. It's been 13 years now since he's been convicted and we have to go through this all again. It's tough for every single one of us,” said Scott McCloskey. Philip's son

Federal prosecutors described how Sampson used his brain to outsmart his victims, quickly gaining their trust before savagely murdering them.  Sampson's attorneys, all from outside of Boston, blamed murder spree on a head injury. They said he fell down the stairs when he was 4 years old, and that turned into an early traumatic brain injury after several more bumps on his head over the years.

“I don't know any of us who have not fallen down the stairs or fallen off their bikes. We didn't have helmets when we were growing up. It happened to all of us and we didn't turn out this way,” said Michael.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to take the stand in the case, including Sampson's brother.

Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984, but Sampson was prosecuted under federal law.

Cox Media Group