Death Sentence Overturned. The Ohio Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of double murderer Clifton White as reported AP writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins. On Christmas Eve of 1995, White killed Deborah Thorpe and Julie Schrey. Prosecutors say he was angry over the break up with Schrey’s daughter. The Ohio Supreme Court agreed he should not be executed because he is mentally retarded. A lower court ruled he did not meet the U.S. Supreme Court’s three-prong test for mental retardation. Here’s the Court decision on this case.

Following up on a recent post Crime and Consequences: Race and Homicide, police have now linked the death of Jamiel Shaw Jr. to an illegal immigrant. Shaw’s family is challenging LAPD’s Special order 40, which limits officers from asking about the citizenship status of suspects. LA Times writers Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton report that Pedro Espinoza had been released just hours earlier from county jail before killing Shaw. His crime is linked to a possible gang loyalty test.

Megan’s Law going International
CBS reports that Representative Chris Smith has expanded the federal ‘Megan’s Law’ by having a system that will notify government officials when a convicted sex offender has entered the United States or traveled abroad. Megan’s Law was adopted after the 1994 kidnapping, rape, and murder of seven-year-old, Megan Kanka of New Jersey.

Quadruple Murder Conviction Dismissed in Indiana
According to the AP story, in 1989 Jeffrey Pelley used a shotgun to kill his father, stepmother and two young stepsisters so he could attend his high school prom. Pelley was not charged until August 2002 and convicted in July 2006. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled to dismiss the case with no retrial because he did not receive a speedy trial. A spokeswoman says, “The attorney general’s office plans to ask the state Supreme Court to take up the case.”