(NECN: John Moroney, Boston) - Serial killer Gary Lee Sampson is set to be back in federal court a year from now, charged with killing two Massachusetts men whose loved ones will now sit through a second death penalty trial.
Judge Mark Wolf has set the date of Sampson's retrial for Feb. 17, 2015. Ten years ago after pleading guilty, the defendant was sentenced to death for killing 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo of Kingston and 69-year-old Phillip McCloskey of Taunton.
In 2011, Judge Wolf threw out the verdicts after learning that a juror had lied about her association with law enforcement. A federal appeals court upheld his ruling.
As a result of the same killing spree in 2001, Sampson also pleaded guilty to killing 58-year-old Robert Whitney in New Hampshire, where he received a life sentence.
The families of Massachusetts victims want to see Sampson put to death, despite reports that his health is failing at the prison in Terra Haute, Ind., where he is now incarcerated.
