Justices Order Hearing for New Murder Scene Witness

Anthony Mungins murder conviction stands for the killing of a Jacksonville Lil' Champs clerk in 1990, but the Florida Supreme Court says a new witness's testimony should be heard.

The court, in a 5-2 ruling, justices Ricky Polston and Charles Canady dissenting, declared that a hearing should be held on the assertions by the new witness who claims to have been the first on the scene of the murder and robbery.The new witness claims that when he arrived, Mungin wasnt there.

Mungin was convicted in part because police reports indicated that the initial witness to the scene identified Mungin as having been seen running from the store.

The judges didnt overturn the verdict, this time unanimously, because evidence in the initial trial included a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol and bullets police foundat Mungins home that analysis showed were used in the Lil' Champs killing and two separate shootings.

In the other shootings, the victims survived; one, a convenience store clerk, identified Mungin as the assailant.