Florida's Supreme Court Returns Convicted Killer to Death Row

Ted Herring, convicted of killing a Daytona Beach convenience store clerk in 1981, is heading back to death row.

The Florida Supreme Court announced Thursday it had reversed a lower court decision that had vacated Herring's capital punishment sentence on the grounds the 50-year-old met the definition of mental retardation.

Herring, who had been found guilty of armed robbery and first-degree murder, challenged his conviction in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision calling the execution of a person with mental retardation "cruel and unusual."

Two years later, after a series of experts testified to Herring's mental status, the death penalty sentence was struck down by a circuit court that ruled Herring met the mental retardation definition.

He remained in jail on the robbery and murder charges.

In reversing the decision, the Florida Supreme Court declared the lower court erred because none of the expert testimony demonstrated that Herring's IQ fell into the area of mental retardation.