In a 6 to 1 ruling today, members of the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the First Circuit erred in dismissing the State's appeal of the resentencing of Dale Craig, to a life with the opportunity of parole sentence. The State will now be able to make its case to the First Circuit that Dale Craig should never receive the opportunity for parole. 

On September 14, 1992, Dale Dwayne Craig brutally murdered Kipp E. Gullet, an 18-year-old freshman student at Louisiana State University. Following his theft of Kipp’s Bronco and a period of psychological torture, Craig marched Kipp at gunpoint into “a secluded construction site.” There, Craig struck him with the gun, causing Kipp to fall to the ground “in a fetal position.” As Kipp lay there, Craig “knelt at his side and fired three bullets through his head, killing him.” After a trial in 1994, the jury found Craig guilty of first-degree murder and “unanimously determined that [he] should receive the death sentence, which the district judge thereafter imposed.

“I’m grateful that the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the State’s authority to ensure that the worst criminals are held accountable. Our next step will be making that case to the First Circuit to guarantee that murderer Dale Craig never sets foot on Louisiana streets again," said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

Read the ruling here.