Jul 24, 2008 11:17 am US/Eastern
Pa. Court Favors Life For Mentally Disabled Killer
HARRISBURG, Penn. (AP) ―
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A statue sits on a flag pole in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, June 12, 2008 in Washington DC. The high court ruled today that detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have the right to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian court system.
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A convicted serial killer should serve life sentences for
his crimes instead of facing the death penalty because he is mentally disabled,
the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The court on Wednesday upheld a Dauphin County judge's ruling that vacated two death
sentences for Joey Miller, a Steelton man convicted in March 1993 of murdering
two women, on grounds of his disability.
Judge Jeannine Turgeon
initially vacated the sentences in December 2002, citing a U.S. Supreme Court
ruling from earlier in the year banning the executions of people who are
mentally disabled. Prosecutors appealed and sought to have her removed from the
case.
Instead, Turgeon
conducted a second hearing last August after the state Supreme Court ordered
one to determine whether Miller met new standards for mental disability.
The high court had
adopted a system that considers both "limited intellectual function"
and "deficiencies in adaptive skills," and said it would not rely on
a "cutoff IQ score."
Mental health experts
found that Miller functioned as a husband, father and employee, despite his low
IQ, said Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr. Miller also
demonstrated premeditation by planning the murders and targeting minority
women, Marsico said.
But Turgeon found him
mentally disabled and vacated the death sentences.
Miller's victims,
Selina Franklin and Stephanie McDuffey, were found buried in a Harrisburg-area
landfill, as was a third woman, Jeanette Thomas. Miller, 41, confessed to
killing Thomas but has not been charged in her death.
He is also serving life
in prison for the 1990 murder of Kathi Novena Shenck, a woman whom he ran over
several times with his car and then buried in a dump in neighboring Perry County.
Marsico said he was
disappointed that Miller would not receive the death penalty, but he has not
determined how he will respond to the court ruling.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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