By HEATHER RATCLIFFE • hratcliffe@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8115 | Posted: Monday, August 2, 2010 6:27 am
CLAYTON -- A man convicted of stabbing his former girlfriend to death will be back in St. Louis County Circuit Court this morning to ask the judge who sentenced him to death to reconsider.
A hearing is set to begin at 9 a.m. Monday in Judge Steven H. Goldman's courtroom.
Scott McLaughlin, of Wright City, was accused of abducting Beverly Guenther, 45, of Moscow Mills, from her workplace in Earth City and killing her in November 2003. In 2006, jurors convicted McLaughlin of first-degree murder, rape and armed criminal action in the guilt phase of his trial but could not agree on punishment. Goldman ordered the capital sentence a month later.
Attorneys who filed McLaughlin’s appeal are asking Goldman to reconsider the sentence, claiming their client received ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of the trial. In their motion, McLaughlin’s new attorneys argue that his trial lawyers should have called a psychiatrist and neuropsychologist who would have testified about McLaughlin’s brain damage.
Attorneys also want Goldman to review new DNA evidence and testimony that may link someone else to the crime.
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