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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Recent claims Jessie Con-ui could have a mental condition will be vetted by federal prosecutors&#8217; own experts following a judge&#8217;s ruling Friday in the convicted killer&#8217;s upcoming capital murder case.</p><p>Federal prosecutors last year announced their intention to seek the death penalty against Con-ui, 39, if he&#8217;s convicted later this year for the 2013 murder of Corrections Officer Eric Williams, of Nanticoke, inside U.S. Penitentiary at Canaan.</p><p>Con-ui, a New Mexican Mafia gang member who was serving life behind bars for murdering a rival gang member in Arizona, killed again when he ambushed Williams and kicked him down a flight of stairs before he beat and stabbed him to death, federal prosecutors allege.</p><p>Con-ui&#8217;s attorneys haven&#8217;t disputed that Con-ui killed Williams, but are vying to spare him from being put to death.</p><p>In laying the groundwork for a defense against the penalty, Con-ui provided notice he&#8217;d introduce evidence relating to a potential &#8220;mental disease or defect&#8221; in November and has since been evaluated by multiple experts, but prosecutors now say they want their own doctors to weigh in.</p><p>&#8220;In order to independently determine the merits of (Con-ui&#8217;s) claim, and to prepare for possible rebuttal testimony, the United States needs to have its experts evaluate (Con-ui),&#8221; prosecutors said in the federal court motion, granted Friday afternoon by U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo.</p><p>Con-ui&#8217;s trial is slated for April 27 at the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Con-ui remains jailed at ADX Florence, a supermaximum federal prison in Colorado.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Con-ui </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Con-ui-cmyk.jpg</photo0><caption0>Con-ui </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Judge grants prosecutors their own evaluation of inmate charged with killing local guard