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Death row inmate kills self after death sentence is lifted
by Joseph Ernest August 31, 2010
Newscast Media SAN QUENTIN, Calif. -- Less than week after a 70-year-old California inmate had his death sentence lifted, the man decided to hang himself in his cell.
San Quentin State Prison spokesman Lt. Sam Robinson said that a guard found George Smithey on Saturday hanging from a noose made from bed sheets tied around his cell bars.
A Calaveras County judge overturned Smithey's death sentence Aug. 23, more than 20 years after he was convicted of killing a woman there during a 1988 break-in.
The judge ruled that Smithey was mentally retarded under state standards set years after his trial and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. His sentence was commuted to life without parole.
Robinson said he did not know whether Smithey had learned his death sentence had been overturned. Authorities found no note. Add Comments>>
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