In an unsigned 4-3 decision, Florida's high court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Fred Brooks.

Brooks, 36, was condemned for the 1996 murder of Darryl Jenkins, who was fatally shot during a drug deal at his home.

In Thursday's ruling, the majority said it agreed with Brooks that the prosecutor "impermissibly inflamed the passions and prejudices of the jury with elements of emotion and fear."

The high court also concluded that the prosecutor misstated the law in his closing arguments and made statements about the defense attorneys that amounted to personal attacks.

Justices Leander Shaw, Harry Lee Anstead, Barbara Pariente and J. Fred Lewis made up the majority. Chief Justice Major Harding and Justices Charles Wells and Peggy Quince dissented.

In a dissenting opinion supported by Quince, Wells said he was "very concerned about what appears to me to be an aggressive expansion ... of the doctrine of fundamental error as applied to a prosecutor's closing argument."

George Bach, the prosecutor in the case, said he was disappointed in the majority opinion and fully agreed with Wells' dissent.