27 January 2010 :

The Missouri Supreme Court overturned the death penalty for Andrew A. Lyons because he is mentally retarded. It is the 2nd time Andrew A. Lyons has had a death sentence reduced. In a unanimous opinion issued today, the court accepted the findings of a special master who heard evidence of Lyons' mental abilities and concluded that he fit the definition of a mentally retarded person under Missouri law. Lyons, 52, was convicted in 1996 of the Sept. 20, 1992 killings of his 22-year-old girlfriend, Bridgette Harris, and of her 49-year-old mother, Evelyn Sparks, and involuntary manslaughter for the death of his 11-month-old son, Dontay Harris. The jury recommended a death sentence for Lyons in the death of the girlfriend’s mother but could not agree on a death penalty recommendation for the death of the girlfriend. The judge, however, sentenced Lyons to death twice. On August 22, 2007 (see) the Supreme Court resentenced him to life in prison for the killing of Sparks, citing a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that only juries could impose a death sentence. The death penalty for Bridgette Harris remained in place. Today also the second death sentence has been overturned.