A convicted cop killer went back to court Friday to avoid the death sentence. Jurors convicted Torrey McNabb of killing Montgomery Police officer Anderson Gordon in 1997.
They recommended McNabb get the death penalty. But McNabb's new lawyer says his first defense team didn't do everything it could to get McNabb life in prison.
The clock is ticking on Torrey McNabb. On average, Alabama death row inmates serve 13 years before they go to the death chamber. McNabb has served seven.
"There is a story to Torrey and he wants the opportunity to present that mitigation evidence and perhaps a jury will decide he shouldn't be put to death," said Bradley Almond, McNabb's lawyer.
The Supreme Court has ruled that convicted killers like McNabb must have an opportunity to avoid the death penalty by showing jurors how their background may have contributed to their crime. Almond says there's a lot in McNabb's life to help him.
Almond explains. "Such as his childhood. The circumstances he grew up in. His early, very early use of drugs. His being used as a drug runner by individuals in the area he lived," he said.
The appeal is similar in nature to Quang Bui's, the Vietnamese immigrant convicted of killing his three children. Bui's defense team traveled to Vietnam to track his background and got him life without parole. McNabb's lawyers won't have to go so far.
But state prosecutors are opposing his request saying he told a jury about his background and worse, he killed a police officer.
That's a critical difference between the Bui case and McNabb's, but the convicted killer may still have a chance at winning a new sentence. McNabb's family attended the hearing today but chose not to speak to us. Officer Gordon's family was not in the courtroom today.
This is the first step toward allowing McNabb a new trial on his sentence. If Judge Charles Price agrees, McNabb's lawyer can begin gathering evidence to show McNabb should have gotten life in prison.
Price says he will not rule quickly on McNabb's request.
Reporter: Chris Holmes
