LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the case of a death-row inmate who was convicted of killing his 12-year-old niece.
A lawyer for 44-year-old Karl Roberts is expected to ask the court Thursday to let him have a full round of post-conviction proceedings.
Roberts was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1999 slaying of 12-year-old Andria Nichole Brewer in Hatfield.
He initially waived his rights to appeal, but changed his mind hours before he was to be put to death during a planned double execution in 2004.
The state says the court should not reopen Roberts’ post-conviction case.