Wiley shouldn't be executed, US judge tells Miss.

Associated Press - November 6, 2009 5:54 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A federal judge says Mississippi death row inmate William Wiley should not be executed for a 1981 DeSoto County murder because of mental retardation.

U.S. District Judge Allen Pepper Jr. ruled Friday that he would vacate the death sentence if the state doesn't do it within 60 days.

Wiley was sentenced to death for the 1981 killing of a convenience store owner.

He was first convicted in 1982 for the killing and robbery of J.B. Turner, whose store was in the Mineral Wells community. Turner died from a shotgun blast and his daughter was left blinded in the attack on Aug. 22, 1981.

Wiley, now 55, confessed to waiting in the parking lot for his victims to close the store and then shooting and robbing them.