RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The North Carolina Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for an inmate sentenced to die for killing a 17-year-old woman whose body was found in a South Carolina culvert.
The court issued a 4-2 decision Friday to vacate Danny Hembree's conviction and death sentence in Heather Catterton's 2009 death and order a new trial.
Hembree is also serving a 26-year prison sentence for killing another woman whose burned body was found in South Carolina in 2009. He had been accused of killing a third woman in 1992, but those charges were dropped.
Bill Massengale, an attorney for Hembree, declined Friday to comment on the court decision.
Hembree brought further notoriety to his case when he wrote a letter to a newspaper saying "Kill me if you can, suckers."
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