Utah death row inmate wants court to reconsider arguments
Death row inmate Ron Lafferty wants a federal appeals court to reconsider arguments that would keep him from facing a firing squad.
Attorneys for Lafferty have filed for an "en banc" hearing before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeal, meaning they would argue their case before the entire bench of judges.
Last month, a three-judge panel rejected Lafferty's claim that a lower court erred in finding him competent to stand trial.
He and his brother were convicted in the deaths of their sister-in- law and her infant child.
Lafferty's attorneys say that jurors never heard how evidence of his mental state could be considered a mitigating factor to avoid the death penalty.