Texas Judge Orders psych Medication for Inmate so he can be put to death

[Guest guest]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A judge who halted an execution because the

inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-

psychotic medication so he can be put to death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5751091,00.html

The inmate, Staley, 43, has refused to take his

medication. A jury decided he should be put to death for the killing

of a Fort Worth restaurant manager during a botched robbery.

Judge Wayne Salvant issued the forced-medication order Tuesday,

while Staley picked at his unruly hair and mumbled nonsensical

phrases in the courtroom.

The order, requested by prosecutors, drew a sharp argument from

Staley's attorney.

``The whole idea of holding somebody down and injecting them so that

we can then say, with a straight face, this person is now competent

so we can kill them, I think that smacks of an Orwellian-Soviet-

style approach to criminal justice,'' Jack Strickland told the Fort

Worth Star-Telegram.

Prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson told the newspaper they

requested the order partly so the jury's sentencing decision could

be carried out.

Three days before Staley was scheduled to die in February, Salvant

blocked the punishment because psychologists testified the man was

incompetent. In 1986, the Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment's

cruel and unusual punishment clause bars states from executing

prisoners who aren't aware of the punishment they are about to face

and don't understand why they are facing it.

[Guest guest]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A judge who halted an execution because the

inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-

psychotic medication so he can be put to death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5751091,00.html

The inmate, Staley, 43, has refused to take his

medication. A jury decided he should be put to death for the killing

of a Fort Worth restaurant manager during a botched robbery.

Judge Wayne Salvant issued the forced-medication order Tuesday,

while Staley picked at his unruly hair and mumbled nonsensical

phrases in the courtroom.

The order, requested by prosecutors, drew a sharp argument from

Staley's attorney.

``The whole idea of holding somebody down and injecting them so that

we can then say, with a straight face, this person is now competent

so we can kill them, I think that smacks of an Orwellian-Soviet-

style approach to criminal justice,'' Jack Strickland told the Fort

Worth Star-Telegram.

Prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson told the newspaper they

requested the order partly so the jury's sentencing decision could

be carried out.

Three days before Staley was scheduled to die in February, Salvant

blocked the punishment because psychologists testified the man was

incompetent. In 1986, the Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment's

cruel and unusual punishment clause bars states from executing

prisoners who aren't aware of the punishment they are about to face

and don't understand why they are facing it.

[Guest guest]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A judge who halted an execution because the

inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-

psychotic medication so he can be put to death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5751091,00.html

The inmate, Staley, 43, has refused to take his

medication. A jury decided he should be put to death for the killing

of a Fort Worth restaurant manager during a botched robbery.

Judge Wayne Salvant issued the forced-medication order Tuesday,

while Staley picked at his unruly hair and mumbled nonsensical

phrases in the courtroom.

The order, requested by prosecutors, drew a sharp argument from

Staley's attorney.

``The whole idea of holding somebody down and injecting them so that

we can then say, with a straight face, this person is now competent

so we can kill them, I think that smacks of an Orwellian-Soviet-

style approach to criminal justice,'' Jack Strickland told the Fort

Worth Star-Telegram.

Prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson told the newspaper they

requested the order partly so the jury's sentencing decision could

be carried out.

Three days before Staley was scheduled to die in February, Salvant

blocked the punishment because psychologists testified the man was

incompetent. In 1986, the Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment's

cruel and unusual punishment clause bars states from executing

prisoners who aren't aware of the punishment they are about to face

and don't understand why they are facing it.

[Guest guest]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A judge who halted an execution because the

inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-

psychotic medication so he can be put to death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5751091,00.html

The inmate, Staley, 43, has refused to take his

medication. A jury decided he should be put to death for the killing

of a Fort Worth restaurant manager during a botched robbery.

Judge Wayne Salvant issued the forced-medication order Tuesday,

while Staley picked at his unruly hair and mumbled nonsensical

phrases in the courtroom.

The order, requested by prosecutors, drew a sharp argument from

Staley's attorney.

``The whole idea of holding somebody down and injecting them so that

we can then say, with a straight face, this person is now competent

so we can kill them, I think that smacks of an Orwellian-Soviet-

style approach to criminal justice,'' Jack Strickland told the Fort

Worth Star-Telegram.

Prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson told the newspaper they

requested the order partly so the jury's sentencing decision could

be carried out.

Three days before Staley was scheduled to die in February, Salvant

blocked the punishment because psychologists testified the man was

incompetent. In 1986, the Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment's

cruel and unusual punishment clause bars states from executing

prisoners who aren't aware of the punishment they are about to face

and don't understand why they are facing it.