The 11th Circuit panel decision in Ferguson v. Florida is available in Adobe .pdf format.
"Mentally Ill Mass Killer's Execution Set After Appeals Court Lifts Stay," is the updated AP report by Curt Anderson. It's via Huffington Post.
A convicted mass killer from the 1970s is again scheduled for execution Tuesday after an appeals court lifted a last-minute stay that was based on his mental illness. His attorneys sought a last-minute reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The execution of John Ferguson, 64, was tentatively back on for 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison pending a final order from the governor's office, state corrections officials said. Ferguson has been on Florida's death row for 34 years.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday lifted a stay put in place over the weekend by a judge in Florida. Ferguson's lawyers argued he is mentally ill and therefore the Constitution prohibits the state from executing him.
His attorneys sought reinstatement of the stay in an emergency filing Tuesday morning with the U.S. Supreme Court. There was no immediate ruling from the justices.
"Federal appeals courts paves way for Miami man’s execution," is the Miami Herald report by David Ovalle.
A federal appeals court late Monday lifted a district judge’s stay on the execution of Miami’s John Errol Ferguson.
Ferguson, convicted of eight murders in the late 1970s in Hialeah and Carol City, could be executed as early as 6 p.m. Tuesday at Florida State Prison in Starke, according to the state corrections department.
Ferguson has been on Death Row for more than three decades. A long-diagnosed schizophrenic who lawyers say believes is the “Prince of God,” Ferguson was originally scheduled to be executed Oct. 16.
The execution of a severely mentally ill man amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment,” his lawyers say.
And:
“Ferguson has failed to identify clear and convincing evidence upon which [Hurley] could decide that the state court unreasonably determined that Ferguson is competent to be executed,” the judges wrote.
His lawyer, Christopher Handman, said late Monday that he hopes to the U.S. Supreme Court will step in.
CNN posts, "Lawyer files request for emergency stay of execution for Florida man who killed 8," by Nick Valencia.
The attorney for a Florida man convicted of killing eight people asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday for an emergency stay of execution, he told CNN.
John Ferguson, a diagnosed schizophrenic, is on death row for the murders in Hialeah and Carol City, Florida, in the late 1970s.
He was scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET at the Florida State Prison.
The Supreme Court "has said it’s a ‘miserable spectacle’ to execute the insane," Chris Handman, the Washington D.C.-based attorney for Ferguson, told CNN. “We think the court should intervene to stop that execution from going forward today."
Earlier coverage of John Ferguson's case begins at the link.
Related posts are in the competency and mental illness category indexes. I added the compentency category index in April. Earlier posts dealing with competency to be executed are available under the Scott Panetti index.
The Supreme Court established standards to assess whether severely mentally ill inmates are competent to be executed in the 1986 case, Ford v. Wainwright; more via Oyez. Coverage of Scott Panetti's case begins at the link. More on the U.S. Supreme Court 2007 ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman is via Oyez.
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