JACKSON - The attorney for death row inmate Derrick Walker has told the Mississippi Supreme Court that his client was guilty of a 2001 killing but the incident did not rise to the level of a capital crime.
Walker was sentenced to death in Lee County in 2003 for the stabbing death of former Tupelo personnel director Charles Richardson. Walker was convicted of capital murder and arson.
Police said Richardson's body was found by firefighters answering a report of smoke coming from his house on July 17, 2001. Authorities said Richardson had been repeatedly stabbed and slashed.
Tupelo attorney William Housley Jr., arguing Walker's appeal Wednesday before the Supreme Court, said Walker killed Richardson and stole the man's car to flee to Chicago. Housley argued the theft of the car was not robbery, a felony that can be used to support a conviction of capital murder.
In Mississippi, capital murder is defined as murder committed along with the commission of another crime.
"The underlying felony of robbery was not established," Housley told the justices. "There is a statement that he intended to kill Richardson, took the car, loaded up his clothes and attempted to go to Chicago. He did not intend to rob this gentleman. He intended to kill Mr. Richardson and he did."
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