Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 24, 2006 7:12:57 GMT -5
Condemned seek tests
Willie Russell once came within an hour of being executed in 1997, but a mental retardation test may determine if the condemned killer dies from natural causes in prison or is executed.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in 2002 made it
unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded, three inmates have been removed from Mississippi's death row and 2, including Russell, are awaiting testing.
6 others are awaiting hearings in Circuit Court on mental retardation claims.
"A number of death-row inmates will pursue this avenue, but I don't believe a huge number will prove to be successful under this approach," said Don Cabana, a former corrections commissioner and chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Administration of Justice Department.
But Cabana said the net effect will be to slow the appeals process.
"The decision did slow 13 of our death penalty cases," state Attorney General Jim Hood said.
"We have 10 Atkins (mental retardation) cases pending and 3 more which have been reversed to life sentences.
"It takes time for our doctors to schedule and conduct these mental evaluations along with all of our other evaluations."
Sunflower County Assistant District Attorney Hallie Gail Bridges said Russell has been scheduled for mental testing 3 or 4 times.
"His defense keeps putting it off," Bridges said.
Russell's attorney, Clive Stafford Smith of New Orleans, has said he wants to be present when the test is given and have his own expert there, according to Bridges.
Smith's office said last week he was in his native England.
The Clarion-Ledger attempted to reach him by e-mail, but he had not responded by press time.
Retired University of Mississippi Medical Center police officer Douglas Moore, a kidnapping victim of Russell, said he doesn't believe Russell is mentally retarded.
"I don't know what his IQ was but he was street smart," Moore said.
Russell overpowered a security guard in a UMC bathroom and took his gun in March 1987.
Then he took Moore hostage and forced him to drive into rural Hinds County. Moore said Russell made him stop, fired shots into the air and threatened to kill him if police didn't back away.
Moore, now 75, said a faulty passenger door lock that he hadn't gotten around to fixing saved him.
He made a sharp left turn and accelerated, flinging Russell out the door.
Moore said he is sure Russell would have killed him.
In March 2003, David Blue became Mississippi's first death-row inmate to have his sentence changed to life in prison without parole under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Blue was sentenced to death in 1995 after he confessed to stabbing his 13-year-old stepson, Gary Wells, 17 times after confronting him about not attending school and hanging out with gang members, court records show.
One threshold for mental retardation is having an IQ of 70 or below. Blue's IQ was determined to be 62, court records show.
Mack Calvin Wells, who killed his stepson in 1994, became the 2nd inmate to have his life spared after being declared mentally retarded.
All parties agreed that Wells was mentally retarded, based on tests from the State Hospital at Whitfield.
But Cabana said "Some who aren't mentally retarded will play the
retardation card."
One inmate has been returned to death row after testing determined he wasn't mentally retarded, according to the attorney general's office.
Howard Goodin, sentenced from Lamar County for the Nov. 5, 1998, armed robbery and murder of store owner Willis Rigdon, was deemed competent and returned to death row in 2004.
AT A GLANCE
Death-row inmates granted a hearing based on mental retardation:
Sherwood Brown
Anthony Carr
Ronnie Conner
Anthony Doss (hearing set for Sept. 7-8 in Grenada County)
Clyde Wendall Smith
Eric Snow
Inmates on death row waiting to be examined for mental retardation:
Willie Russell
Ricky Chase
Inmates resentenced to life without parole based on mental retardation:
David Blue
Mack Calvin Wells
Jimmy Mack
Returned to death row after testing showed no mental retardation
Howard Goodin
(source: Clarion-Ledger)
Willie Russell once came within an hour of being executed in 1997, but a mental retardation test may determine if the condemned killer dies from natural causes in prison or is executed.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in 2002 made it
unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded, three inmates have been removed from Mississippi's death row and 2, including Russell, are awaiting testing.
6 others are awaiting hearings in Circuit Court on mental retardation claims.
"A number of death-row inmates will pursue this avenue, but I don't believe a huge number will prove to be successful under this approach," said Don Cabana, a former corrections commissioner and chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Administration of Justice Department.
But Cabana said the net effect will be to slow the appeals process.
"The decision did slow 13 of our death penalty cases," state Attorney General Jim Hood said.
"We have 10 Atkins (mental retardation) cases pending and 3 more which have been reversed to life sentences.
"It takes time for our doctors to schedule and conduct these mental evaluations along with all of our other evaluations."
Sunflower County Assistant District Attorney Hallie Gail Bridges said Russell has been scheduled for mental testing 3 or 4 times.
"His defense keeps putting it off," Bridges said.
Russell's attorney, Clive Stafford Smith of New Orleans, has said he wants to be present when the test is given and have his own expert there, according to Bridges.
Smith's office said last week he was in his native England.
The Clarion-Ledger attempted to reach him by e-mail, but he had not responded by press time.
Retired University of Mississippi Medical Center police officer Douglas Moore, a kidnapping victim of Russell, said he doesn't believe Russell is mentally retarded.
"I don't know what his IQ was but he was street smart," Moore said.
Russell overpowered a security guard in a UMC bathroom and took his gun in March 1987.
Then he took Moore hostage and forced him to drive into rural Hinds County. Moore said Russell made him stop, fired shots into the air and threatened to kill him if police didn't back away.
Moore, now 75, said a faulty passenger door lock that he hadn't gotten around to fixing saved him.
He made a sharp left turn and accelerated, flinging Russell out the door.
Moore said he is sure Russell would have killed him.
In March 2003, David Blue became Mississippi's first death-row inmate to have his sentence changed to life in prison without parole under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Blue was sentenced to death in 1995 after he confessed to stabbing his 13-year-old stepson, Gary Wells, 17 times after confronting him about not attending school and hanging out with gang members, court records show.
One threshold for mental retardation is having an IQ of 70 or below. Blue's IQ was determined to be 62, court records show.
Mack Calvin Wells, who killed his stepson in 1994, became the 2nd inmate to have his life spared after being declared mentally retarded.
All parties agreed that Wells was mentally retarded, based on tests from the State Hospital at Whitfield.
But Cabana said "Some who aren't mentally retarded will play the
retardation card."
One inmate has been returned to death row after testing determined he wasn't mentally retarded, according to the attorney general's office.
Howard Goodin, sentenced from Lamar County for the Nov. 5, 1998, armed robbery and murder of store owner Willis Rigdon, was deemed competent and returned to death row in 2004.
AT A GLANCE
Death-row inmates granted a hearing based on mental retardation:
Sherwood Brown
Anthony Carr
Ronnie Conner
Anthony Doss (hearing set for Sept. 7-8 in Grenada County)
Clyde Wendall Smith
Eric Snow
Inmates on death row waiting to be examined for mental retardation:
Willie Russell
Ricky Chase
Inmates resentenced to life without parole based on mental retardation:
David Blue
Mack Calvin Wells
Jimmy Mack
Returned to death row after testing showed no mental retardation
Howard Goodin
(source: Clarion-Ledger)