LaRoyce Smith, whose death sentence was overturned last year

LaRoyce Smith, whose death sentence was overturned last year (see Apr. 26, 2007) by the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to life in prison today in exchange for Dallas County prosecutors not seeking to execute him. The Supreme Court overturned the sentence – but not the conviction – because it ruled that the jury at  Smith's trial was not allowed to consider his low IQ of 78 and that he was a 19-year-old ninth-grader as mitigating factors. Smith, 37, was convicted in the 1991 shooting and stabbing of Jennifer Soto, 19.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping, burglary of a building and retaliation. His sentences for those crimes of 99 years, 20 years and eight years, respectively, will each be served consecutively to the life sentence. Under Thursday's plea bargain, it is possible – though unlikely – for Smith to become eligible for parole after serving 37 years.