A man who prompted a nationwide manhunt after a pair of South Carolina killings in 2005 has lost the appeal of the second of two death sentences.
/ FILE
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A man who prompted a nationwide manhunt after a pair of South Carolina killings in 2005 has lost the appeal of the second of two death sentences.
The state Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the death sentence and conviction of Stephen Stanko in the death of Henry Turner.
Stanko's attorneys argued a juror should have disqualified from his second trial because she told the judge she knew the defendant already had one death sentence. They also said the trial should have been moved because of publicity.
Authorities say Stanko killed his girlfriend, Laura Ling, in her Murrells Inlet home and assaulted her teenage daughter. He then drove 25 miles to Turner's home and killed him with a shotgun.
Stanko has already lost the appeal of his death sentence for killing Ling.
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