Supreme Court tells Carneal, "No"

This from C-J:

Court rejects claims from Paducah school shooter

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The Kentucky Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a new competency hearing and trial for a man who pleaded guilty to killing three peers
in a 1997 school shooting when he was a teenager.

The court ruled that Michael Carneal's guilty plea should not be reconsidered after his current claim that his mental illness was worse than anyone realized at the time of the shootings. The high court also rejected Carneal's claims that his lawyer was
ineffective.

Carneal, now 25, is serving a sentence of life without the chance of parole for at least 25 years for the Dec. 1, 1997, shooting at Heath High School in Paducah when he was 14. The case was one of seven school shootings in the late-1990s, including the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999.

The ruling means Carneal will likely remain in prison until his first parole eligibility in 2023...