A Wayne County judge says a convicted killer on death row for nearly two decades is mentally retarded and must be spared.
Superior Court Judge Arnold Jones ruled this morning that 50-year-old Marvin Williams must be removed from death row.
North Carolina law forbids mentally retarded defendants from being executed. Sixteen inmates have had their death sentences suspended since the law passed in 2001.
Jones heard evidence on Williams' mental condition earlier this week.
Williams killed Theron Price in 1989 during a robbery at the company where Williams worked and Price was a security guard.
