Judge weighs solitary confinement for inmate pending retrial

(AP) – A Delaware judge is weighing whether an accused killer whose conviction and death sentence were overturned in January should be released from solitary confinement pending a retrial.

The judge reserved a decision on the issue following a hearing Tuesday.

An attorney for Isaiah McCoy, who wants a transfer into the general prison population, says McCoy has been in solitary confinement for six years, released from his cell for only 45 minutes three times a week.
    
McCoy was convicted of the 2010 drug-related killing of 30-year-old James Mumford in Dover.
    
But the Delaware Supreme Court said McCoy is entitled to a new trial because of errors by the judge and prosecutor in his 2012 trial.
    
Last month, the justices suspended the former prosecutor, now retired, for professional misconduct in McCoy’s case.