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| Jury Says Death Row Inmate Not Retarded |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/22/2004 |
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Roderick Smith, who was convicted of killing his wife and her four children a decade ago, will remain on death row after a jury ruled he was not mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of the mentally retarded almost two years ago. Smith, 37, is the third death row inmate in Oklahoma to receive a jury trial since the ban was ordered. None of those inmates has been found mentally retarded. An Oklahoma County jury deliberated 30 minutes last Monday before deciding Smith wasn't mentally retarded. District Judge Jerry Bass would have resentenced him to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole if the jury had found that Smith was mentally retarded. Smith was convicted of killing his wife, Jennifer Smith, 21, and her four children, ages 10, 9, 7 and 6. Their decomposed bodies were discovered June 28, 1993. Smith admitted he killed all five of them. He received five death penalty sentences. Defense attorneys Vicki Ruth Adams Werneke and Wyndi Thomas Hobbs said they will appeal. ``We are disappointed,'' said Werneke, an Oklahoma Indigent Defense System attorney. |
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