Topeka ? Convicted murderer Gary Kleypas will again face the possibility of a death sentence for killing a Pittsburg State University student a decade ago, because of a Kansas Supreme Court ruling Friday.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June upholding the state’s capital punishment removed one obstacle to Kleypas’ potential execution. The Kansas court on Friday removed a second hurdle – the question of whether the state could introduce evidence during a sentencing hearing that Kleypas stalked his victim.

Kleypas’ conviction stands, but a new jury will be impaneled in Crawford County District Court to consider whether he should be executed.

The case will be handled by the attorney general’s office.

“Kleypas’ stalking of his victim was an important part of the case. The attorney general is pleased he will be able to present this evidence during the sentencing phase,” said spokeswoman Sherriene Jones.

The high court in 2001 upheld Kleypas’ conviction for the 1996 death of Carrie Williams, 20, who was found severely beaten and stabbed seven times in her apartment after he tried to rape her.

But the court also ordered a new sentencing hearing because it found that the “weighting test” to decide whether a person should be executed was unconstitutional.

As a result, Kleypas’ case was ordered returned to the trial court to consider sentencing with new instructions from the justices.

However, in another decision in 2004, the justices held the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional, putting all capital sentences on hold. That prompted an appeal by the state to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Kleypas’ resentencing was postponed, pending the outcome.

The U.S. Supreme Court then reversed the justices and ruled the state’s death penalty was constitutional, including the weighting test, which says if the aggravating and mitigating circumstances are about equal, the jury must recommend death.

Including Kleypas, Kansas has 11 inmates sentenced to die.

The state justices said in their Friday ruling that evidence of Kleypas stalking his victim can be considered by the new jury, provided Williams knew she was being stalked and suffered mental anguish – one of the aggravating circumstances.

That was in response to the Kleypas’ 2003 appeal arguing that stalking was irrelevant to prove that the murder was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner, which are requirements to make a case eligible for the death penalty.

The district judge had sided with Kleypas, but the Supreme Court disagreed. The justices said that when the stalking is directly related to the murder and makes the victim aware of impending violence, “It is indeed relevant and may be considered by the sentencer.”