BOISE -- A 7th District Judge has signed a death warrant for condemned inmate Richard Albert Leavitt, ordering that he be executed by lethal injection.
Barring any last-minute court intervention, Leavitt will be executed on June 12.
Leavitt was convicted in the July 18, 1984 brutal murder of 31-year-old Danette Elg in Blackfoot. Prosecutors said he stabbed her repeatedly with exceptional force, and then cut out her sexual organs either as she died or shortly thereafter. Leavitt's defense attorneys have argued he had ineffective counsel during his trial, and he has brain damage and a mental disorder that contributed to his actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Leavitt's appeal on Monday, and Judge Jon Shindurling signed the death warrant Thursday.
