Nantucket Murder Conviction Reversed Due To Jury Flaws

BOSTON (AP) -- The highest court in Massachusetts has reversed the murder conviction of a former New York banking executive who was accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend on the exclusive island of Nantucket in 2004.

The Supreme Judicial Court said in its decision released on Tuesday that there were flaws in the way the jury for the trial of Thomas Toolan III was selected, especially since Nantucket is such an insular community.

Toolan, a former Citigroup executive, was convicted of killing Elizabeth Lochtefeld in 2007.

The court ruled that many of the people in the jury pool had either direct ties to the victim's family, or close ties to potential witnesses in the case.

The slaying was the first on Nantucket in more than two decades.

The SJC has ordered a new trial.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)