Heath High School shooter now says he was too mentally ill to plead guilty

This from the Herald-Leader:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --A high school shooter who killed three classmates and wounded five others is asking Kentucky's Supreme Court for another chance.

Michael Carneal, now 25, claims he was too mentally ill to plead guilty in 1998 to going into Heath High School in west Paducah and shooting eight students gathered for an informal prayer service. He is serving a sentence of life without the chance of parole for at least 25 years for the shooting Dec. 1, 1997, when he was 14.

Carneal's case is back in the spotlight because the Kentucky Court of Appeals last year sent it back to McCracken County Circuit Court to decide if he should be granted a new hearing. The ruling said if Carneal is determined to have been incompetent when he pleaded guilty, he should be allowed to enter another plea or go to trial.

Prosecutors appealed, setting up the Kentucky Supreme Court's hearing on Sept. 11. The Supreme Court will decide whether Carneal should get a new competency hearing and trial.

Five psychologists examined Carneal before his 1998 guilty plea and determined that he was competent and understood the consequences, according to court records. Three were hired by Carneal's attorneys...