Suspect in Huntsville slayings of wife, son wants death penalty ruled unconstitutional
A man pursuing an insanity defense in the fatal strangling his wife and young son is asking a Madison County judge to dismiss two capital murder charges.
Stephen Marc Stone is asking Circuit Judge Donna Pate to dismiss the capital indictments and rule Alabama's death penalty unconstitutional.
Stone is set to go on trial March 6 in the deaths of 7-year-old Zachary and 32-year-old Krista Stone. The victims were found dead Feb. 24, 2013, at their home on Chicamauga Trail in south Huntsville.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Stone and his attorneys are arguing the state's death penalty sentencing procedures violate the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as well as Supreme Court decisions.
The defense argues that when the Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty system in Hurst v. Florida, it also made Alabama's system unconstitutional, according to court records.
"Florida's capital structure contained a fatal flaw: it allowed the Judge to find the facts determinative of a life or death sentence," attorneys Brian Clark and Larry Marsili wrote in a motion.
Because a judge ultimately decides whether to sentence a convict to death or prison, the attorneys argue the law is unconstitutional.
In a capital trial when a guilty verdict is handed down, the jury votes on whether a person should be sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole. However, the judge makes the final decision.
There has been much debate about Alabama's system since the Hurst decision.
A hearing on pending motions in Stone's case is set for Friday at 11 a.m.
The judge also is expected to rule on a defense request for a mental evaluation of Stone, who is seeking to prove himself not guilty by reason of mental disease of defect.
An independent expert hired by the defense found Stone, 37, is not competent to stand trial, court records show.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/in..._slayings.html
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