|
TEXAS (USA): DEATH ROW INMATE CAN'T BE FORCIBLY DRUGGED
September 11, 2013: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that Steven Staley, a death row inmate with a history of mental illness, cannot be forcibly medicated for the purpose of making him competent for execution.
The court ruled in favor of Staley, 51, White, who was convicted in the October 1989 murder of 35-year-old Robert Read during the robbery of a restaurant.
The same court on May 14, 2012 granted a reprieve for Staley 2 days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.
Prosecutors have argued Staley is competent for execution, but his attorneys have countered that this was accomplished only because a state judge in Fort Worth improperly ordered Staley be given drugs to make him competent so the state of Texas could kill him. (Source: Associated Press, 11/09/2013)
|
