Ellington

ABERDEEN, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has scheduled a March 22 hearing on the results of a mental evaluation for a Mississippi death row inmate.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock granted prosecutors' request for the examination of Mack Arthur King.

Prosecutors sought the mental examination for King after a doctor who had done a previous evaluation declined to further participate in the case. Prosecutors said even though they had subpoenaed the previous doctor, they wanted a new evaluation to combat King's ongoing claims that he suffers from mental issues and shouldn't be executed.

King, now 53, was sentenced to die by a Lowndes County jury in the death of 84-year-old Lela Patterson in 1980. Patterson was beaten, strangled and drowned at her home during a burglary.