Lexington judge: Man accused of toddler’s death can’t face the death penalty. Here’s why.

A Fayette Circuit Court judge has ruled a man accused of murdering a 3-year-old girl will not be eligible for the death penalty.

Andrew Charles Buster, 37, potentially faced execution if he was to be convicted of murder and sodomy in connection to a December 2018 incident that left Lillyann Grace Reck dead.

Buster was formally charged and arrested in January 2020, according to court records. He’s been held at the Fayette County Detention Center ever since.

Judge Lucy VanMeter issued an order Tuesday, declaring Buster wouldn’t be eligible to face the death penalty because he did have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

VanMeter wrote in her order that evidence indicated Buster “had significant adaptive behavior deficits during the developmental period.” That determination factored into her ruling, along with Buster’s IQ score and his adaptive functioning.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a previous case — Atkins v. Virginia — that sentencing someone with intellectual disabilities to death would be cruel and unusual punishment and would violate the Eighth Amendment.

On April 19, VanMeter held a hearing to discuss whether or not Buster should be deemed intellectually disabled based on the testimony of two psychologists.

Both doctors argued for hours about Buster’s IQ score, and whether that put him at the threshold to be intellectually disabled, and ultimately, qualified for capital punishment.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), someone with an IQ of 70 or below is considered to have an intellectual disability.

The defense team’s expert, Dr. Sara Boyd, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in intellectual and learning disabilities, said Buster had a composite IQ of 80, according to a defense presentation. But adjusted for the “Flynn Effect,” which accounts for IQ increases over time, his score should be 75, Boyd said in court.

But Dr. Jaclyn Williams of the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, who prosecutors presented as a witness Wednesday, gave Buster an IQ score of 86.

While both doctors’ scores were above 70, the determination for intellectual disabilities takes into account other factors, including adaptive function and intellectual deficits during Buster’s childhood. Buster was found to have significant deficiencies in both areas.

Buster’s defense team previously made a motion to exclude Williams’ testimony based on Williams’ qualifications as well as her testing and calculation methods which determined her score.

VanMeter denied this motion in the same ruling.

“The court rejects the notion the Dr. Williams does not have ‘the expertise required to make life and death (intellectual disability) determinations’ simply because this is the first time she has testified on this specific issue before the court,” VanMeter wrote in her order.

In regards to Williams’ differing calculation methods, VanMeter determined “that Williams’ testimony may differ from Dr. Boyd’s testimony is not a basis to exclude the opinion, but merely goes to the weight to be afforded her testimony.”

Buster is scheduled for another court hearing June 15.