Verdict annulled in nun's killing

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- A judicial panel annulled the conviction of a man in the 2005 shooting death of Sr. Dorothy Stang, a longtime American missionary in Brazil who supported campesinos in their fight against large ranchers and loggers.

Rayfran das Neves Sales was convicted of murdering Stang last year and in May was sentenced to 27 years in prison. An appeals court upheld that verdict and sentence, which NCR reported in its Dec. 28 issue, but another panel of judges quashed the verdict in late December.

The second panel said that the trial judge should have allowed the jury to consider Sales' story that he acted on his own. A rancher and two others were convicted of planning the murder and hiring Sales to kill Stang for $25,000. Sales has been order to stand trial again.

Prosecutors said Sales, who has changed his testimony several times, is now trying to clear the other men, according to The Associated Press.

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