Two death-row inmates to get mental evaluation

<br>(Oklahoma City-AP) -- New hearings are being ordered for two Oklahoma death row inmates to determine if either is mentally retarded. <br><br>The hearings for Karl Lee Myers and Richard Hammon are being

Tuesday, August 12th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- New hearings are being ordered for two Oklahoma death row inmates to determine if either is mentally retarded.

The hearings for Karl Lee Myers and Richard Hammon are being ordered by the state Court of Criminal Appeals. The rulings come following a U-S Supreme Court decision that bans the execution of the mentally retarded.

The state court is ordering an evidentiary hearing to determine if a jury should decide whether Myers is retarded. The court Hammon's case be sent directly to a jury.

Myers received the death sentence in Rogers County for the 1996 asphyxiation death of Cindy Marzano and the 1993 shooting death of Shawn Marie Williams.

Hammon is to die for the 1990 killing of Eugene Slape in Okmulgee County.