for the 2nd time in 10 years, the state Supreme Court has overturned the death penalty of Freeman May.

for the 2nd time in 10 years, the state Supreme Court has overturned the death penalty of Freeman May. May was convicted in March 1991 of stabbing to death Kathy Lynn Fair, 22. Fair disappeared in September 1982, and her remains were found 6 years later in a remote wooded area. On appeal, the state Supreme Court upheld the conviction but said a mistake occurred during the penalty phase, and it ordered another hearing.
The second hearing was held in December 1995, and May again was sentenced to death. Four years later, he again appealed, complaining his attorneys were ineffective because they did not tell the juries he was physically and emotionally abused as a child and had learning disabilities and a long history of substance abuse. Yesterday the state Supreme Court justices ordered the 48-year-old May be resentenced in Lebanon County Common Pleas Court. The court said in a ruling released today that May's defense attorneys at a 1995 resentencing hearing should have challenged a ruling barring them from presenting as mitigating factors evidence that May's father had abused him as a child. The court's decision does not affect May's murder conviction. May is being held at the State Correctional Institution in Waynesburg. He is the father of Landon D. May, who was convicted of first-degree murder on Jan. 9, 2003 (see) for the torture and killing of Lucy and Terry Smith.