NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the state's attempt to reimpose the death penalty for a man who was 17 when he was accused of killing an LSU freshman in 1992.

Dale Craig was convicted in the death of Kipp E. Gullett after his lawyer agreed with prosecutors that Craig was guilty.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 outlawed the killing of people who were minors when they committed their crimes. Louisiana has recently argued that Craig was close enough to age 18 to qualify for the harshest penalty.

“While we’re disappointed the Louisiana Supreme Court didn’t weigh in on this important case, we’ll continue to work to ensure that the worst of the worst criminals in our State are brought to justice,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.

East Baton Rouge Parish Judge Eboni Johnson Rose made Craig parole-eligible two years ago, vacating a life term 28 years into his sentence. In arguing against Rose's decision, the attorney general's office said the U.S. Supreme Court had gotten it wrong when it outlawed the eventual execution of young offenders.

"It prohibits states like Louisiana from executing criminals like Dale Craig — who carjacked, kidnapped, terrorized, pistol-whipped and then shot to death Kip Earl Gullett, an unsuspecting LSU freshman — just because he was a week away from his 18th birthday when he committed this heinous crime," the attorney general's office said in September.

Gullet died Sept. 14, 1992. According to prosecutors, Craig stole Kipp's Ford Bronco and subjected Gullet to psychological torture before shooting him three times in the head at a construction site.

The state Supreme Court ruled in October that the state would be allowed to fight Craig's parole-eligibility.

Over the years, Craig's lawyer has fought for a reduced sentence, saying the law required courts to consider "how children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison."

True life terms should be reserved for "the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption," lawyer John Landis wrote in 2017. "Significantly, this court has never before had the opportunity to consider these factors and has never before been required to make this ultimate determination regarding Mr. Craig."

He argued that, after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 decision, Craig was eligible only for a manslaughter conviction, which carries a maximum 40-year term. 

Justices allowed the American Civil Liberties Union to intervene in the death penalty case. In its filings, it said the state couldn't make arguments with the hope that one day the U.S. Supreme Court might change its approach on death penalty cases.

"The state's arguments rest upon its politicization of the United States Supreme Court, claiming that changes in the ideologicial 'party' of the current Justices create an opportunity to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roper v. Simmons," the case that banned executions of the youthful offenders, the ACLU wrote.

Judge Donald Johnson ruled against the state Oct. 24, prompting the state's appeal. Justices voted 6-0 to deny, with Justice John Michael Guidry recusing because he had heard a portion of Craig's case while at the 1st Circuit.