A man on death row for killing two people during a Douglasville, Ga. robbery has been granted a new sentencing trial because key evidence was withheld from his defense team 14 years ago.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court said Alphonso Stripling's lawyers should have been provided information suggesting Stripling was mentally retarded and therefore exempt from capital punishment.

In 1988, Stripling shot four of his fellow employees, killing two, at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant during a robbery. At his trial a year later, jurors rejected arguments that Stripling was mentally retarded and sentenced him to death.

On appeal, Stripling's lawyers found that state Board of Pardons and Paroles files contained reports and comments that Stripling was mentally retarded. Their findings included a report from a parole supervisor who found that during a 1974 interview Stripling answered questions slowly "due to his mental retardation."

Justice Carol Hunstein, writing for a unanimous court on this issue, noted that the parole file "contained compelling evidence to support Stripling's trial claim of mental retardation." Information on Stripling's mental retardation dating to the 1970s was even more important because prosecutors claimed that Stripling's defense lawyers had concocted his alleged mental retardation, Hunstein said.

On a related issue, however, the state Supreme Court reversed a judge's ruling that Stripling had proved his mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt. This ruling had been made by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger, who heard Stripling's appeal as a visiting judge. He called the case a "miscarriage of justice" that warranted Stripling's sentence be reduced to life in prison without parole.

But the state Supreme Court said Tuesday that a new jury must consider whether Stripling is mentally retarded, beyond a reasonable doubt, before it decides whether he should live or die.

A week ago, in a 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court upheld that standard in the appeal of Warren Lee Hill, who sits on death row for killing a fellow prisoner. The ruling affected at least 10 Georgia death row inmates who say they are mentally retarded, including Stripling.