An inmate who was sentenced to death for killing a bank teller in eastern Idaho will get another chance to argue that he deserves a lesser sentence under a new ruling from the Idaho Supreme Court.
Timothy Dunlap was sentenced to death for shooting 23-year-old Tonya Crane to death during a Soda Springs bank robbery in 1991. He has also been sentenced to death in Ohio for killing his girlfriend, Belinda Bolanos, with a crossbow just 10 days before Crane's murder.
Dunlap contends his attorneys didn't adequately investigate mitigating factors, such as his mental illness, during his sentencing hearing. On Tuesday the Idaho Supreme Court issued a ruling rejecting most of his claims but finding that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on claims related to his mental health.