Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Supreme Court overturns Lyons' death sentence, upholds Deck's

In separate case, judges split on how to handle reviews.

David A. Lieb
The Associated Press

Jefferson City -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the death sentence of a man it determined was mentally disabled. But judges revealed they are split on how to decide whether death sentences are appropriate.

The high court unanimously overturned the death sentence of Andrew Lyons for the 1992 slaying of his estranged girlfriend in southeast Missouri after concluding he was ineligible for execution because he is mentally disabled.

In a separate case, the court unanimously upheld the death sentence of Carmen Deck for the double murder of an eastern Missouri couple in 1996. But in doing so, the seven-member court issued three separate opinions as to how it should review whether the death sentence is an appropriate punishment for a crime.

In Lyons' case, the Missouri court pointed to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring the mentally disabled from being executed. The state Supreme Court affirmed the recommendations of a special master it had appointed to determine Lyons' mental capacity. It concluded he had an IQ in the range of 61-70 -- just below what it said was the threshold for significantly below-average intelligence.

The court reduced Lyons' sentence to life in prison for the slaying of his estranged girlfriend, Bridgette Harris, of Cape Girardeau. It was the second reprieve Lyons has received.

In 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court reduced Lyons' death sentence to life in prison for the slaying of Harris' mother, Evelyn Sparks, because the original sentence had been imposed by a judge after a jury deadlocked on the punishment.

Lyons also had been sentenced to seven years in prison for killing his 11-month-old son, Dontay Harris. That sentence was not overturned.

Deck was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of James and Zelma Long during a robbery of their home near De Soto. His two death sentences were twice overturned -- most recently by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 because he had been shackled in the presence of jurors. But at a third re-sentencing hearing, Deck again received two death sentences.

The Missouri Supreme court upheld those sentences Tuesday. But judges split over how to apply a more than 25-year-old state law requiring them to consider whether a death sentence is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases.

Judge Zel Fischer, who wrote the main opinion, said the "proportionality review is designed to prevent freakish and wanton application of the death penalty" and that judicial precedent only requires the court to make a comparison to other death penalty cases. Fischer was joined on that point by Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. and Judge Mary Russell.

But Judge Laura Denvir Stith -- in an opinion joined by judges Richard Teitelman and Michael Wolff -- said state law requires the Supreme Court to also consider similar cases in which defendants received life sentences.

In a third opinion, Judge Patricia Breckenridge said she agreed with Fischer that the "proportionality review" is intended to correct only the most "aberrant death sentences" but agreed with Stith that the review also should consider cases involving life prison sentences.

Regardless of the review standard, all the judges said Deck's death sentence was appropriate.