Death Penalty Tossed For Lowndes County Man

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 ordered the state 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.

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.

 

 

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