"More testimony set for condemned Ohio killer claiming he's too psychotic to face execution," is the AP report by Thomas J. Sheeran. It's via the Republic.
A judge who has heard conflicting testimony must decide whether a condemned killer who says the CIA is plotting against him is mentally competent to face execution.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman expects testimony from two final witnesses in Thursday's third day of testimony in the competency hearing for Abdul Awkal, 53.
Awkal received a last-minute reprieve from Gov. John Kasich last week. He was sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife and brother-in-law in a Cleveland courthouse in 1992.
The judge didn't indicate when he would rule. The new execution date is Wednesday.
A psychiatrist testifying Wednesday for the state said Awkal is mentally competent, disputing a defense claim that he is too psychotic to be executed.
"Mr. Awkal had a motive to distort information. Here's a man fighting for his life," Dr. Stephen Noffsinger testified.
Noffsinger testified that Awkal is mentally competent and had a motive to claim that the CIA has conspired against him.
And:
A defense expert, Dr. Pablo Stewart, interviewed Awkal on May 25 and said in an affidavit that Awkal has delusions and is mentally incompetent to be executed because he lacks a rational understanding of why he faces the death sentence.
Earlier coverage of Abdul Awkal's case begins at the link.
The Supreme Court established standards to assess whether severely mentally ill inmates are competent to be executed in a 1986 case, Ford v. Wainwright; more via Oyez. Related posts are in the clemency, competency, and mental illness indexes.
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