Death Penalty Hearing Begins for Dale Wayne Eaton

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A lengthy hearing has begun in Cheyenne as Wyoming's only death row inmate challenges the constitutionality of his death sentence.

Attorneys for Dale Wayne Eaton say he might not have received the death penalty if his trial defense team had offered jurors more details about his tortured life.

The public defender who represented Eaton at trial was the first witness called as the hearing began Tuesday. Scores more are scheduled to testify over the next two weeks.

Eaton was sentenced to death in 2004 for the 1988 rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell, of Billings, Mont. Kimmell disappeared while driving across Wyoming.

DNA evidence linked Eaton to Kimmell's death. His attorneys don't dispute that Eaton killed Kimmell, whose body was found in the North Platte River.