FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ death penalty has been challenged repeatedly and found to be constitutional, Washington County prosecutors said Wednesday, but they’ll still have to defend it in a local capital murder case.
Attorneys for Ricky Ray Anderson filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the law, arguing the death penalty amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Anderson is charged with capital murder in the June 26 death of Jill Lynn Ulmer in Fayetteville.
Prosecutor John Threet contends the state’s law does not violate the federal constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment and legal safeguards are in place to limit the discretion of juries and prevent an arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty.
Attorneys will make their arguments on all pending motions in the case Jan. 7 before Circuit Court Judge William Storey. Other motions include a request to delay the case and require the state to pay for expert witnesses, doctors and investigators needed to help with Anderson’s defense in the capital case.
Ulmer, 26, suffered multiple stab wounds in her Fayetteville apartment minutes after she had called 911.
Police heard Ulmer screaming when they arrived and ran to her apartment. Officers broke out the front window and reported seeing Anderson, 41, make stabbing motions. They fired several rounds at him through the window. Anderson was not injured in the gunfire and hid behind a couch. One bullet ricocheted off a couch and hit Ulmer in the head.
An investigation concluded the officers acted reasonably in trying to save Ulmer. State medical examiners have said both the gunshot and stab wounds would have been fatal individually. She was stabbed 25 to 30 times, severing a major artery.
Ulmer had a protection order against Anderson, who was on parole for aggravated assault and robbery convictions in Oklahoma.
Anderson has denied stabbing Ulmer.
Capital murder is punishable by life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.