Lawyers Argue Legality of ‘Suicide by Court’

Lawyers for Kentucky death-row inmate Marco Allen Chapman contend their client is trying to commit “suicide by court.”

The state supreme court heard arguments yesterday in a case challenging the legality of Chapman’s sentence, the Associated Press reports. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to killing two children and asked for the death penalty.

Chapman’s lawyers argued the trial judge should have sought evidence to mitigate the punishment, but prosecutors said the defendant was mentally competent to seek execution.