INDIANA, Pa. -- Defense attorneys say a 19-year-old Indiana County man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend's toddler shouldn't be executed because tests show the man is mentally disabled.
State police say Joshua Turner, of Black Lick, told them he beat 19-month-old Leonard "LJ" McIntire after the child bit Turner's finger and "wanted him to know what pain felt like."
Indiana County District Attorney Thomas Bianco said the victim's age is one reason why he's pursuing the death penalty if Turner is convicted of first-degree murder in the beating last October.
But Turner's attorneys say a psychologist last year determined Turner has mental disabilities and limitations that would prevent him from being executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Judge William Martin has not scheduled a hearing on the defense motion filed Tuesday.
Kimberly Shirley, the boy's mother, testified at a preliminary hearing in July that she left her son with Turner for four hours while she ran errands with her mother on Oct. 27, 2008.
Shirley said that when she returned, the child was unresponsive and she called 911. McIntire was put on life support and died five days later.
At the preliminary hearing, Shirley testified that the reason she left her son with Turner was to go to a welfare office and then the Salvation Army, where she wanted to put LJ's name on the organization's "Angel Tree" so he could get a Christmas gift.
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