USA | Judge halts federal execution and orders further evaluation of mental competency claims

The second federal execution scheduled for this week has been halted by a federal judge out of Washington, DC.

Wesley Ira Purkey was scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, but US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an injunction prohibiting the federal Bureau of Prisons from going forward with Purkey's scheduled execution.

Chutkan noted that Purkey suffers from progressive dementia, schizophrenia and severe mental illness, but did not rule on whether Purkey is competent, and ordered the court to further evaluate these claims.

The Justice Department filed an immediate appeal.

A separate temporary stay on Purkey's execution was already in place by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Purkey was sentenced to death in January 2004 after he was convicted in federal court for the interstate kidnapping and killing of 16-year-old Jennifer Long in 1998.

Last week, three mental health organizations sent a letter to US Attorney General William Barr urging him to stop Purkey's execution and instead commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.

The letter was signed by the heads of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America and the Treatment Advocacy Center.

"We believe that proceeding with his execution would violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on executing people who are not competent to understand the reason for their execution," the letter stated, saying that Purkey's mental health deteriorated during his years on death row.

The Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute people who are "insane" in a 1986 landmark decision.

In 2007, the Court further ruled that executions are prohibited on people whose mental conditions result in their inability to understand the reasons behind their execution.

Purkey's attorney, Rebecca Woodman, said he is "a 68-year old, severely brain-damaged and mentally ill man who suffers from advanced Alzheimer's disease and dementia."

"Though he has long accepted responsibility for his crime, he no longer has a rational understanding of why the government plans to execute him," Woodman said on Wednesday. "By staying Wes's execution, the court's action signals the importance of allowing him to present the extensive, available medical evidence demonstrating his incompetency to be executed."

Ron Honberg, former Director of Policy and Legal Affairs at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has advocated for a halt to Purkey's execution, arguing that Purkey's mental health issues were not raised at trial nor adequately addressed at sentencing.

"It would really be a travesty for the execution to proceed without at least addressing the issue in some sort of formal way," Honberg said.

The Department of Justice is asking for a swift resolution on appeal, arguing that the Federal Bureau of Prisons will suffer harm if the execution is postponed.

The last-minute legal wranglings are similar to the 11th hour legal bids concerning Daniel Lewis Lee, who was ultimately executed Tuesday morning in the first federal execution since 2003.

Hours before Lee was set to be executed on Monday, Chutkan, the same judge who has now halted Purkey's execution, stopped Lee's execution after ruling that questions about the lethal injection to be administered had not been properly resolved. But the Supreme Court cleared the way for Lee's execution early Tuesday morning, in a 5-4 opinion where the court's four liberals dissented, saying that the disputed drug, pentobarbital, had been used in more than 100 executions without incident.

Source: CNN, Staff, July 15, 2020

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Former Florida officer who raped, murdered 11-year-old set to be executed

An execution date has been set for a former Mascotte police officer who, in May 1987, assaulted and murdered an 11-year-old girl. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for James Aren Duckett on Friday. He’s scheduled to be executed on March 31. It’ll be the state’s 5th execution this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Duckett was convicted in the murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee about a year after her death. According to officials, Duckett took the 11-year-old to a lake, where he sexually battered, strangled and drowned her.

Florida executes Billy Kearse

Florida executes man who killed Fort Pierce police officer during 1991 traffic stop Moments before receiving a lethal injection, Billy Kearse asked for forgiveness from the family of Danny Parrish, whose widow said she found peace after a "long, long 35 years.” A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop was executed Tuesday evening, becoming the third person put to death by Florida this year after a record 19 executions in 2025.

Chinese courts conclude trials of 2 criminal gangs from northern Myanmar, 16 sentenced to death

Chinese courts have concluded the trials of 2 major criminal groups based in northern Myanmar involved in telecom and online fraud, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday. At a press conference held by the SPC, it was revealed that by the end of 2025, courts across the country had concluded first-instance trials of over 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 returned suspects sentenced. Notably, among the trials of the so-called "4 major families" criminal gangs -- which had drawn widespread domestic and international attention -- those of the Ming and Bai groups have completed all judicial proceedings.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

Oklahoma Ends Indefinite Death Row Solitary Confinement

Every year, thousands of prisoners in the U.S. are placed in solitary confinement, where they endure isolation, abuse, and mental suffering . This practice might soon become rarer for some inmates in Oklahoma, thanks to the efforts of activists in the state. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma announced that the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester had ended the practice of indefinite solitary confinement for "the vast majority" of death row prisoners.

‘Come on with it’: Arkansas inmate asks to hasten execution

A Faulkner County judge has scheduled an August hearing to determine whether a death row inmate can bypass his attorney’s advice, drop his remaining appeals, and hasten his execution. Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, is facing the death penalty for the 2016 killing of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in Conway. In letters sent to Circuit Judge Chuck Clawson and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gardner said he wants to end his legal battles, writing that he is tired of prison life and skeptical he will receive a fair hearing. “It’s simple,” Gardner wrote in a September letter. “Come on with it.”

Florida Cop-killer Billy Kearse set to be executed today

A man who confessed to fatally shooting Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish with his own service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop is scheduled to be executed starting at 6 p.m. March 3, barring a last-minute stay. Billy L. Kearse, 53, will be the third person put to death by the state this year, just one week after the execution of Melvin Trotter, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. The Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 12 denied a motion for a stay of execution and a motion for an extension due to the fading health and death of the father of Kearse's attorney. Attorneys for Kearse have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, citing violations of the Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution.

Man convicted in 1986 murder set to become Florida's second execution of 2026

STARKE, Fla. (DPN) — A man convicted of stabbing and strangling a grocery store owner during a robbery nearly 40 years ago is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening, becoming the second person executed in Florida this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Virgie Langford, 70, who owned Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, in southwest Florida's Manatee County.

Florida executes Melvin Trotter

The execution of Melvin Trotter for the murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford in 1986 comes as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questions Florida's 'deeply troubling' lethal injection record. Florida has executed its second inmate of the year even as a Supreme Court justice questioned the state's “deeply troubling" record on lethal injections and how it "shrouds its executions in secrecy." Melvin Trotter, 65, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford, a mother of 4 who was on the verge of retirement when she was stabbed to death in the corner grocery store that she owned for five decades. Trotter was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog