Convict who killed baby daughter to be executed despite 'serious mental illness'
A prisoner sentenced to death for the murder of his baby daughter has been denied clemency after his lawyers argued that he suffering from schizophrenzia. Benjamin Cole, 57, is set to be executed on October 20, with his legal team requesting a competency hearing that would have allowed a jury to decide if he was fit to face the death penalty.
"Benjamin Cole is incapacitated by his mental illness to the point of being essentially non-functional. His own attorneys have not been able to have a meaningful interaction with him for years, and the staff who interact with him in the prison every day confirm that he cannot communicate or take care of his most basic hygiene."
Hird added: "The warden’s refusal to initiate competency proceedings is an abuse of his discretion, and we will promptly appeal." Cole, for example, was due to be executed in 2015 but it was called off due to a mix-up involving the drugs. Oklahoma was forced to halt executions in 2014 after a grim episode during the death of murderer Clayton Lockett.
A judge upheld a previous ruling in June this year that said the eighth amendment "does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death". Support for the death penalty remains the majority opinion in Oklahoma and the rest of the US. Oklahoma itself executes more people per capita than any other state.
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