Veteran death penalty defense attorney Jimmy Berry of Marietta closed the book on his last open capital murder case Tuesday.

It wasn't a win; it wasn't a loss. The case went to dead docket, his client committed to a psychiatric prison, declared incompetent to stand trial.

In Berry's line of work, it was the best he could do. And it got him started talking to a reporter late in the day about the 50 death penalty cases he's handled over nearly half a century.