Posted: 08.16.2010 at 12:36
South Carolina's Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife while awaiting trial on charges he had raped and kidnapped her.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina's Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife while awaiting trial on charges he had raped and kidnapped her.
Louis Winkler's attorneys argued a judge should have allowed Winkler to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his 2008 trial. But Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote in the opinion published Monday that Winkler should have asked to act as his own attorney for the whole trial, not just sentencing.
Winkler was found guilty of shooting Rebekah Grainger in the head in her Little River apartment. He was under house arrest at the time of the 2006 shooting but was allowed out for several hours a day.
Winkler had a gun and newspaper article about the shooting in his pocket when he was arrested.
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