9-22-98--

In Atlanta, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated the death penalty against a Florida man convicted of killing an off-duty sheriff's deputy during an attempted robbery.

Terry Sims, 56, had successfully appealed to U.S. District Court in Florida, stating his counsel was ineffective.

But the Florida district attorney's office appealed, and the decision to reinstate the sentence was handed down Tuesday by the 3-judge panel of Judges Joel A. Dubina, Ed Carnes and Frank M. Hull.

Sims was one of 4 men to participate in an attempted robbery of a pharmacy in Seminole County on Dec. 29, 1977, when off-duty George Pfeil tried to stop the crime. Sims shot and killed Pfeil, and was convicted of 1st-degree murder on July 24, 1979.

Since he was a prior felon, he committed the crime to escape capture, and he committed the murder while committing another crime, he was sentenced to death.

His appeal said his defense should have objected to the use of testimony enhanced by hypnosis, and that his counsel should have cross-examined Curtis Baldree, who was also robbing the store but who testified against Sims.

(source: Associated Press)