The 2nd United States Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed out the death sentence for a man convicted of killing two undercover police officers in 2003.

The federal court says prosecutors made a legal error in the trial of Ronell Wilson and the judge did not correct it during jury instruction.

As a result, Wilson will need to be resentenced.

Wilson was the first federal defendant to get the death penalty in the city in more than five decades.

He was sentenced in 2007 in the shooting deaths of undercover police detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin during a gun buy and bust operation on Staten Island in 2003.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it is reviewing the decision.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the murders were an attack on society and should be punished with the death penalty.

(Source: NY1)