COLUMBUS — A man convicted of killing two college students has become the second of what is expected to be a flood of condemned killers seeking removal from death row because of mental incapacity.

        Terrell Yarbrough, 21, was sentenced to death in 2000 for his role in the murder the previous year of two Franciscan University of Steubenville students.

        He is the second death row inmate to file a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 20 that executing the mentally retarded was unconstitutionally cruel.

        Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker estimates that about 25 percent of Ohio's 194 death row inmates might be mentally retarded. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections claims no inmates are retarded.

        Mr. Yarbrough's appeal says he also has had trouble socializing and living on his own.

        But the prosecutor who handled his case said he doesn't believe Mr. Yarbrough is mentally retarded.

        “Terrell may have a low IQ when it comes to picking up a book,” said Chris Becker, a former Jefferson County assistant prosecutor. “But he's probably a genius when if comes to ... figuring out how to get guns and drugs and how to kill people and bury bodies.”

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