LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that a death row inmate can ask a state court to rule that he was not competent to stand trial for the 2001 murder and mutilation of a woman.
Justices on Thursday granted Rickey Dale Newman's request to reinvest jurisdiction to Crawford County Court, where he was sentenced to death in 2002 for the death of 46-year-old Marie Cholette at a Van Buren transient camp.
Newman said that the doctor who said he was competent to stand trial later admitted in federal court that he made errors on the test. Newman also claimed that prosecutors withheld evidence in his case.
The court in May denied Newman's motion to end his appeals. Newman said in a motion filed without his attorneys that his death "is the only and right thing" for him.
Justices on Thursday granted Rickey Dale Newman's request to reinvest jurisdiction to Crawford County Court, where he was sentenced to death in 2002 for the death of 46-year-old Marie Cholette at a Van Buren transient camp.
Newman said that the doctor who said he was competent to stand trial later admitted in federal court that he made errors on the test. Newman also claimed that prosecutors withheld evidence in his case.
The court in May denied Newman's motion to end his appeals. Newman said in a motion filed without his attorneys that his death "is the only and right thing" for him.
