1998 Death penalty case heads back to court

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - A man who had his death sentence overturned is heading back to court.

57-year-old Omar Richard Deen was sentenced to death in 1998 for fatally shooting his mother and Calipatria Police Chief J. Leonard Speer.

His conviction was overturned in April of 2026 by the California Supreme Court due to a juror's personal connection to Chief Speer.

Deen was transferred from state prison to local custody in Imperial County, where a judge ordered him to be held without bail as a pre-trial defendant, while the District Attorney's Office, and Deen's defense team review the case.

He is due back in court this November.