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Virginia inmate asks court to toss death sentence

By WTOP Staff

LARRY O’DELL
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A judge says he will rule in about three weeks on a Virginia death row inmate’s claim he shouldn’t be executed because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in another case.

U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson heard arguments in Alfredo Prieto’s case Wednesday.

Prieto was awaiting execution in California for raping and murdering a teenager when a DNA sample connected him to the 1988 slayings of two George Washington University students in Reston. He was also sentenced to death for those.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that a rigid cutoff on IQ test scores cannot be used to determine whether someone is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Prieto claims that means he cannot be executed. Attorneys for the state say the ruling shouldn’t be applied retroactively.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Emergency guide: What you should do to prepare for emergencies

By WTOP Staff
WASHINGTON — Do you know what you'd do if an emergency hits? What if you're at work, your spouse is stuck in traffic and your children are in school? There's no way to plan for every emergency, but you can make sure you're prepared for different scenarios, including making a plan for your family and building a kit of emergency supplies.
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