Death sentence tossed in 1991 officer slaying

Death sentence tossed in 1991 officer slaying

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has thrown out the death sentence imposed on a man convicted of the shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer more than two decades ago.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina ruled Friday that 50-year-old Edward Bracey had established below-average intellectual functioning as demonstrated by an IQ of 74.

The U.S. Supreme Court has barred as unconstitutional execution of anyone deemed by a state to be mentally disabled.

Bracey’s sentence is now life in prison without possibility of parole in the 1991 murder of officer Daniel Boyle.

John J. McNesby, president of Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police, called the decision “an absolute disgrace” and said Boyle’s relatives were “obviously upset.”

McNesby told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Bracey had “pulled the wool over the judge’s eyes.”