New Trial For Gay Lover Killing Cop

Steven Rios will get another day in court. A judge ordered a new first degree murder trial for the former Columbia, Missouri copper. The Columbia Tribune reports:

Rios was convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the 2004 death of [lover and] MU student Jesse Valencia, 23, who was found with his throat slashed outside his East Campus apartment.

The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District in April ordered Rios’ conviction vacated and that Rios receive a new trial because of inadmissible hearsay statements allowed at trial made by a friend of Valencia’s.

Rios has since been transferred to a new facility, where he remains in isolation for his former crime fighting career.