OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A death penalty sentencing hearing has been postponed for a former doctor convicted of killing four people connected to an Omaha medical school.
A judge Thursday postponed the hearing after appointing the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy to help represent Anthony Garcia. The commission often represents those convicted in death penalty cases.
The hearing Thursday was to have helped a three-judge sentencing panel determine whether mitigating factors — such as childhood abuse or impaired mental capacity — exist that might spare Garcia the death penalty. A new hearing date was not immediately set.
In October, Garcia was convicted of killing the 11-year-old son and a housekeeper of Creighton University faculty member William Hunter in 2008, and killing pathology doctor Roger Brumback and his wife in 2013.
Prosecutors say Garcia blamed Hunter and Brumback for his 2001 firing from Creighton's pathology residency program.
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