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Court Overturns Death Penalty For Retarded Man

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Aug 27, 2008 9:26 pm US/Pacific

Court Overturns Death Penalty For Retarded Man

SANTA ROSA (AP) ― A man convicted in 1981 of attacking three women has had his death sentence set aside by a Sonoma County court after he was recently found to be mentally retarded.

Sonoma County prosecutors and defense attorneys for 50-year-old Calvin Coleman Jr. agreed in court Wednesday that he should be taken off Death Row.

Coleman was convicted of stabbing two women, raping one and fatally shooting another at a Healdsburg ranch in May 1980.

Attorneys representing Coleman petitioned for a review of his sentence after a 2002 Supreme Court decision struck down capital punishment for the mentally retarded.

Mental health experts determined after a months-long evaluation that Coleman met California's definition of retardation, which was broadened in 2004.

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