Public defender Mike Mitchell said Tuesday that a mental health expert has found his client, Louisiana serial killings suspect Derrick Todd Lee, to be mentally retarded. In an apparent attempt to spare his client from the death penalty, Mitchell made the announcement as jury selection continued for Lee's first-degree murder trial in the beating and stabbing death of a 22-year old woman in May 2002.

Prosecutors claim that DNA evidence links Lee to the murders of seven women in Louisiana between April 1998 and March 2003. Lee was sentenced to life in prison last month after being convicted of one of the deaths. AP has the full story. Court TV's Crime Library has background on the Lee case. KLFY-TV has more on the jury selection in the case.