The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction for a man sentenced to death for fatally shooting a police officer during a traffic stop in northeast Arkansas.
The court on Thursday rejected a request for a new trial and upheld the death sentence for Jerry Lard, who was convicted in the 2011 shooting death of Trumann police officer Jonathan Schmidt.
The court rejected several of Lard's arguments, including his objection to prosecutors showing jurors dash-cam videos of the shooting.
Lard's defense attorneys admitted their client fatally shot Schmidt, but argued at trial that Lard suffered from a mental disease or defect.
In Thursday's ruling, the court said that Lard couldn't prevent the admission of the dash-cam video into evidence simply by conceding to the facts of the crime.
