ABERDEEN, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled a Mississippi inmate is mentally disabled and is not to be executed.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock on Tuesday threw out Mack Arthur King's death sentence and gave the state 60 days to resentence him.
King, now 53, was sentenced to die by a Lowndes County jury in the death of 84-year-old Lela Patterson in 1980. Patterson was beaten, strangled and drowned at her home during a burglary. Her body was found in a bathtub. When he was arrested, King had some of her belongings, according to court records.
King's conviction and sentence were overturned on two previous state appeals. Then he was tried and convicted a third time in 2003 and sentenced to death. Initially, he was evaluated by a doctor as part of his defense.
His conviction was appealed to federal court in 2010 on numerous issues, including his mental state.
Mississippi prosecutors this past week agreed with a psychological evaluation stating King is mentally disabled.
Aycock said in her ruling that the government's concession that King is mentally disabled and King's own expert testimony were evidence enough to rule for King.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the mentally disabled amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and is unconstitutional.
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