From Media Reports
JACKSON – A man sentenced to die for the shooting death of a store owner during a robbery in 1991 will have his sentenced changed to life without parole.
Frederick Bell, 40, of Calhoun County, was convicted and sentenced to die in the shooting death of Robert C. Bell at the Stop-N-Go in Grenada County.
Frederick Bell had filed numerous petitions with state and federal officials trying to have his conviction overturned.
In February of 2011, the Mississippi Supreme Court granted him a hearing on the issue of whether he suffered from mental retardation.
Following a hearing in Grenada County Circuit Court in September, the judge appointed the Forensic Services Unit of the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield as the court’s expert.
A spokesperson for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says the team of medical professionals determined Bell has a full scale IQ of 63.
She says the since the state used the experts at the State Hospital, they cannot argue with the findings of their own experts.
Bell will now be re-sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
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