Justices to decide if convicted officer gets retrial

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will decide whether a former Detroit police officer convicted of killing his girlfriend should get a retrial. The justices last Friday agreed to hear an appeal from Michigan officials who want to stop a new trial for Burt Lancaster, who was convicted of shooting and killing Toni King in a restaurant parking lot in 1993 with a gun stolen from his mother. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a retrial so that Lancaster could raise a diminished mental-capacity defense, something Michigan courts would not let him do. Michigan officials say that decision should be overturned because the diminished mental-capacity defense was not available in Michigan, and federal courts should not second-guess reasonable state court decisions. The justices will hear the case later this year. Published: Tue, Jan 22, 2013