Arkansas Supreme Court stays execution of inmate while new mental health review is sought
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The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of the state’s oldest death-row inmate who also has a history of mental illness.
The court granted a stay to Jack Greene, 62, to allow time for a new mental health evaluation, Arkansas Online reports. Greene’s lawyers sought the evaluation in a suit challenging a state law that gives the state prisons director the power to determine whether inmates are competent for execution.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge does not plan to appeal or seek a rehearing on the stay. Instead, she plans to address the merits of the appeal, according to a Rutledge spokesman.
Greene’s execution was scheduled for Thursday.
Last month, the ABA expressed concern about Greene’s execution in a letter to Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who was considering a clemency petition. The Oct. 25 letter asked Hutchinson to consider evidence that Greene was mentally ill at the time of the murder and that he is currently incompetent to be executed.
Hutchinson denied clemency, the Arkansas Blog reported on Nov. 3. In a statement, Hutchinson said Greene has acknowledged he understands why he is being executed, satisfying Supreme Court standards for competence.
Arkansas Online reports that, in his clemency hearing, Greene “rambled about a conspiracy by his attorneys and prison officials to keep him from being extradited to North Carolina, where he is charged with killing his brother.” Greene said he would rather be executed if he wasn’t extradited and his sentence wasn’t reduced.
Greene was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of retired pastor Sidney Burnett.
Hat tip to the Marshall Project.
