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SOUTH CAROLINA (USA): CONVICTED ELMORE’S LIFE SPARED
February 4, 2010: In a 22-page order filed today in Greenwood County Circuit Court, Judge J. Mark Hayes II ordered that Edward Lee Elmore cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded. Elmore, 51, black, is the inmate who has been on South Carolina's death row longer than any of its other current inhabitants. He went on death row in April 1982, three months after he was arrested and charged with the sexual assault and murder of Dorothy Edwards, a 75-year-old woman. Defense attorneys appealed for post-conviction relief.
During a hearing held at Broad River Correctional Institute this past May, they said Elmore is mentally retarded, and his execution would be unconstitutional. Circuit Judge Mark Hayes took 2 days of testimony in May and ruled this week that Elmore is mentally retarded as defined by the state. He vacated the death sentence and remanded the imposition of a life sentence to General Sessions court of the 8th Judicial Circuit.
The Attorney General's Office has up to 30 days to decide whether it wants to appeal the order. (Sources: Spartanburg Herald Journal, Orangeburg Times Democrat, 04/02/2010)
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