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5th Circuit to hear appeal in Quitman Co. murders

Associated Press - September 9, 2009 3:54 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A federal appeals court has agreed to hear condemned inmate Robert Simon Jr.'s claim that he could have avoided a death sentence had his sentencing jury been told of his abusive childhood.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday said Simon's claim that his attorney could have done a better job deserved airing. A federal judge in Mississippi had dismissed the claim in 2008.

Simon was sentenced to death for the killings of Carl Parker, his wife, Bobbie Jo, and their son Gregory, 12, on Feb. 2, 1990. The killings occurred a few hours after the family had returned to their rural Quitman County home from church services.

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