April 09, 2018 - 1:37 PM
BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana's top court has ruled a man sentenced to death for the 1991 fatal stabbing of an elderly couple isn't intellectually disabled and may be executed.
The Advocate reports the state Supreme Court issued an opinion Friday upholding a state judge's ruling in the case of Allen "Lil Boo" Robertson Jr., who was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Morris and Kazuko Prestenback. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said intellectually disabled people cannot be executed.
A psychologist hired by the defence testified at a hearing in 2016 that Robertson is intellectually disabled, while one hired by the prosecutor testified to the opposite. Two court-appointed psychologists split on the issue.
Robertson's attorneys say they'll seek relief in the federal court system.
No execution date has been set.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2018