Death sentence tossed in murders of dad, stepmom, stepsister

By BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Supreme Court has reversed the death sentence for a Los Angeles man who was twice convicted of murdering his father, stepmother and 8-year-old stepsister in 1982. The court upheld Robert Bloom’s first-degree murder conviction in his father’s shooting but reversed second-degree murder convictions in the other slayings. The court says Bloom’s attorneys violated his right to choose his defense by making the tactical decision to tell jurors he killed the stepmother and stepsister. Prosecutors did not immediately say whether they will seek to retry Bloom in the killings of Josephine Bloom and her daughter, Sandra Hughes.