Jury selection to begin in death penalty retrial

BOSTON – Jury selection is set to begin in the sentencing retrial for a man who was sentenced to death in the 2001 carjack killings of two Massachusetts men.

A jury gave Gary Sampson the death penalty in 2003, but that was overturned eight years later by a judge who found that one of the jurors had lied repeatedly about her background.

Sampson pleaded guilty to carjacking and killing 69-year-old Philip McCloskey and 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo during a weeklong crime rampage in July 2001. The new jury will be asked to decide if Sampson should receive the death penalty or life in prison.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Sampson also was convicted in state court in New Hampshire for killing a third man.