BOSTON -- A Massachusetts man on death row for the murders of three people is asking for a new trial.

Gary Sampson's new defense attorneys arrived at a federal courthouse Monday morning carrying boxes of documents. They are prepared to present what they say is "new evidence" that was not offered in his murder trial -- evidence they say may have given jurors reason to spare his life.

Sampson -- a drifter from Abington -- was sentenced to death following a week-long murder spree in 2001 that left two Massachusetts men and a man from New Hampshire dead.

"We should basically be going down to watch his execution, not going through this again," said Scott McCloskey, the son of Philip McCloskey, 69, of Taunton, who was killed by Gary Lee Sampson during a weeklong crime rampage in July 2001.

Sampson's new defense team says the lawyers who represented him at trial were ineffective. For example, they claim there is evidence of brain damage resulting from years of child abuse. Hospital records that corroborate that claim were not presented at trial.

"I think it's a big waste of time," McCloskey said, of the hearing being conducted by U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf.

Sampson's defense lawyers are requesting the judge overturn his conviction and grant a new trial.