It is with a heavy heart that I write on the death of Edwin Hart Turner, whose case I had been following over the past several weeks. For those who did not read the previous posts, Edwin Hart Turner was a Mississippi native arrested for murdering two men during a convenience story robbery committed in 1995. According to his lawyers, he attempted his first suicide attempt by shotgun while stil a teenager; this attempt failed, and left him with a disfigured face. He reportedly spent multiple stays in psychiatric wards, and his father was severely mentally ill. After a U.S. District Court Judge granted a stay of execution until at least February 20th, I did not follow-up immediately, assuming he had two weeks for his lawyers to prove his mental illness. I recently learned that Mr. Turner was put to death on February 8th, two days after the Court Judge granted his staf. Apparently, the Supreme Court and Governor rejected "petitions to stop it." Perhaps the attorneys and law experts in the audience can help elucidate how the process went forward.
One article distinguished itself from the typical AP news reports spread across the internet; a personal recount of the execution by a Therese Apel, a crime reporter and volunteer first-responder, entitled My First Execution.
This offers up a broader discussion on how the individual states manage the sentencing of mentally ill offenders; there are no federal laws shielding them from the death penalty, unlike for the mentally retarded. For those interested in law, there are multiple resources on the issue, such as the Mental Illness and the Death Penalty site on the Death Penalty Information Center. The stories of mentally ill people who were executed in spite of clear psychosis may disturb you. If you are interested in a deeper investigation in the specific Department of Corrections regulations that, according to Turner's lawyers, prevented Turner from seeking appropriate psychiatric evaluation, some good investigatory work may be just what the system needs.
After the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi granted a preliminary injunction on the scheduled execution, the state of Mississippi appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which vacated the lower court's order. A panel from the Fifth Circuit essentially found that the district court was wrong to conclude that there was a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. After that, I imagine Turner filed an application for a stay of execution to the Supreme Court of the United States, which apparently was not granted.
ReplyDeleteThe Fifth Circuit opinion is here: http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20FCO%2020120208132.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR
*southern district of mississippi
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