By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

The justices reversed the conviction and death sentence of Andrew Gosciminski. He had been the marketing director for Lyford Cove in Fort Pierce, where Joan Loughman, 55, of Danbury, Conn., had placed her father, Frank Vala.

Gosciminski, 55, is charged with slashing Loughman's throat Sept. 24, 2004 at her father's home on Hutchinson Island where she was staying. He allegedly stole her jewelry including a two-carat diamond ring that police said he gave to fiancee the same day.

The justices ruled in an unsigned opinion that he didn't get a fair trial because the state relied on hearsay testimony and presented no physical or eyewitness evidence linking him to the murder.

Fingerprints found at the scene did not match Gosciminski's. Neither the ring, inherited from Loughman's mother and valued at $40,000, nor the murder weapon were found.

Police said Gosciminski took the ring back from his fiancee and threw it into the Atlantic Ocean when investigators began questioning him.

Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor said no decision has yet been made whether to retry Gosciminksi. Prosecutors will have to weigh their chances of getting a convinction now that the Supreme Court has excluded certain evidence, he said.

Taylor said he still believes he presented sufficient evidence and that the 12 jurors agreed.

``They not only thought there was enough for a conviction but they gave him the death penalty,'' Taylor said.

A phone message left at the defense lawyers's office was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Chief Justice Peggy Quince dissented from the 4-1 ruling. She wanted to go further than the majority, writing she would have acquitted and freed Gosciminski because the evidence was so flimsy.

``While the evidence presented by the state was perhaps sufficient to create some suspicion, it is simply not strong enough to support a conviction,'' Quince wrote.

The state relied heavily on circumstantial evidence that Gosciminski knew the victim and where she was staying and that he was nearby the following morning based on cell phone records.

Other employees testified he wasn't at work when the murder occurred and his fiancee said she saw him at home with bloody clothing and blood on his arm. The clothing also was never found.

The high court's two newest justices did not participate in the case.