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Variety in the Heartland |
From Death Row To Life Sentences
03/03/10 MRC/AP
The death sentence of a convicted rapist and killer on Kentucky death row has been changed to life in prison as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Beoria A. Simmons will serve six life sentences without parole for a series of kidnappings and killings in Louisville from 1981 through 1983. A judge approved the deal between Simmons and prosecutors in court Tuesday.
Simmons, 55, has been on Kentucky's death row for 25 years under six death sentences.
The deal comes four months after U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled Simmons, who is black, could probe how and why Jefferson County prosecutors dismissed minority jurors from the panel in 1985.
Simmons was convicted of murder, rape and four kidnappings. In three separate cases, authorities say he kidnapped Robin Barnes on March 18, 1981, Shannon House on March 25, 1982, and Nancy Bettman on March 11, 1983, at gunpoint, raped and killed them.
A fourth attempted abduction, on June 11, 1983, resulted in the woman escaping and later identifying Simmons.
The deal reached Tuesday spares prosecutors from providing large volumes of information and providing prosecutors for depositions about jury selection processes in Jefferson County.
As part of the agreement, Simmons will be allowed to stay in a single cell at Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville and may not be moved from the facility. As part of the deal, Simmons will drop all appeals and prosecutors will end attempts to execute him.
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