Wyoming Death Penalty Case Appealed to US Supreme Court

CASPER, Wyo. (Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune) — The only man currently facing potential execution in Wyoming has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seventy-five-year-old Dale Wayne Eaton argues lower courts didn't property determine his mental competency.

Jurors in 2004 found Eaton guilty of charges including premeditated first-degree murder in the kidnapping, rape and slaying of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell in central Wyoming in 1988, a case that went unsolved for over a decade.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports a federal judge stayed Eaton's execution in 2014 but an appeals court ruled in 2019 that prosecutors could again pursue death for Eaton.