An Oklahoma City man whose execution has been halted three times while legal questions about his mental health were debated is scheduled to be executed Tuesday night.
Garry Thomas Allen, 56, was last scheduled for execution in April when a federal judge issued a stay to consider appeals arguing that he is mentally ill and therefore not eligible for execution.
Thomas killed the mother of his two children on November 21, 1986, gunning her down in front of daycare workers after she arrived to pick up the couple's 2- and 6-year-old sons. Gail Titsworth had moved out of Thomas' home four days earlier and rebuffed his pleas to return.
He was drunk and shot the woman four times before a police officer found him in a nearby alley and shot him in the face during a struggle over the officer's gun.
Allen lost his left eye and sustained brain damage from the gunshot wound, according to court testimony, but a jury found him competent to stand trial.
Allen, who had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and had been hospitalized for psychological problems, insisted on entering a "blind" guilty plea to murder, meaning the plea was entered without his knowing what his punishment would be.
His plea was intended to spare the emotions of his family and the family of the woman he killed, records show.
To date, there have been 35 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,312 post-Furman executions since 1977.
Related posts are in the execution date index.
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