John Moritz has, "Inmate loses bid to halt meds," in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
A Fort Worth man on Death Row on Wednesday lost his bid to overturn a court order forcing him to take medication to make him mentally fit to be executed.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals told Steven Kenneth Staley in a unanimous ruling that it would not consider overturning state District Judge Wayne Salvant's ruling ordering Staley to take drugs for schizophrenia.
But the court's action does not immediately set the stage for Staley to be executed for his role in the shooting death of Robert Reed, who was held hostage after a robbery attempt at a Fort Worth Steak and Ale on Oct. 14, 1989.
"We have to go back and start the process all over," said Chuck Mallin, the Tarrant County assistant district attorney who heads the office's appellate division.
"We'll have to get a new competency hearing, and Mr. Reed's family will have to continue to suffer."
Staley's lawyer, Jack Strickland of Fort Worth, said he intends to file an appeal in federal court on whether condemned inmates can be forcibly medicated to get around the Supreme Court's ban on executing the mentally ill.
"There's very little doubt that this guy is flat insane," Strickland said.
Twice in the past 2 1/2 years, courts have intervened to stop Staley's execution. Each time, the move met with protests from Reed's family. Tarrant County prosecutors contend that Staley was sane at the time of the slaying and that he is capable of understanding why he has been sentenced to die.
As noted in the earlier post, the opinion by Judge Barbara Hervey is here. Earlier coverage of the Staley case is here, here, and here.
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