Second Death Penalty Trial For Mass. Killer

Federal prosecutors will hold a second trial to seek the death penalty against a man who admitted killing three people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire during a weeklong crime spree.

Gary Lee Sampson, a drifter from Abington, pleaded guilty to federal charges in the 2001 slayings of 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo of Kingston and 69-year-old Philip McCloskey of Taunton. He pleaded guilty to separate state charges in New Hampshire in the death of Robert Whitney of Concord. After a federal trial in Boston, he was sentenced to death.

A federal judge threw out the sentence in 2011 in a ruling later upheld by a federal appeals court.

On Friday, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said prosecutors will again seek the death penalty through a new trial instead of simply allowing Sampson to serve a life sentence.