The man who murdered Jane's Addiction star Dave Navarro's mother in 1983 has escaped death row in California.
John Riccardi was convicted of shooting and killing his girlfriend, Connie Hopkins Navarro, and her best friend Susan Marshall Jory, in 1994, and sentenced to be executed.
He has been on death row ever since.
But, on Monday (16Jul12), officials at the California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence, ruling that Riccardi, now 76, was denied a fair trial when the judge presiding over the case excused a "prospective juror during jury selection".
The murderer became a fugitive after the killings. He was captured in 1991 after a TV viewer tipped off police about Riccardi's whereabouts following a TV news special about the murders.
Guitarist Navarro appeared on America's Most Wanted in 2004 and recalled the night his mother was killed, revealing he was supposed to stay with her but chose to spend more time with his father.
Navarro is convinced he would have been killed by Riccardi if he had visited his mother as planned.