US court asked to reinstate death sentence in double slaying

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana attorney general's office is asking a federal appeals court to reinstate the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a central Indiana woman and her 4-year-old daughter.

The filing asks the full U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to review a January decision from a three-judge panel that found Frederick Baer had ineffective legal counsel during his trial. The panel sent the case back to a Madison County court for a new sentencing hearing.

The 46-year-old Indianapolis man was convicted of the 2004 slayings of 26-year-old Cory Clark and her 4-year-old daughter Jenna at their rural Madison County home near Lapel, about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

The attorney general's office argues the federal panel wrongly "nitpicked" state court decisions upholding Baer's death sentence.