By a unanimous vote, the California Supreme Court upheld...

By a unanimous vote, the California Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Larry Douglas Lucas but tossed out his death sentence, finding that if the jurors had known about the constant beatings and abuse he had endured as a child, they might not have sentenced him to die. Lucas, 54, was sent to death row for the 1986 fatal stabbings of Mary Marriott, 75, and husband Edwin, 85. In commuting the death sentence to a life term, the Supreme Court found the defendant had inadequate legal counsel.