Next week’s scheduled execution of an Alabama Death Row inmate convicted of killing a lady by shooting her will not take place.
After a Marion County judge ordered the 59-year-old prisoner to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in July, the state courts already put a delay on David Lee Roberts’ execution scheduled for August 21.
The written report of the competency exam and mental evaluation will not be finished by next Thursday, according to a press release released by the Alabama Department of Corrections on Friday morning.
The prison system further stated that until the judge receives the written evaluation report, the state will not contest that temporary stay.
As a result, all plans for Mr. Roberts’ currently planned execution have been put on hold by the Department. The Department is prepared to start execution preparations, provided the stay is lifted and all required approvals are obtained, the news release stated.
At the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Roberts was scheduled to die by inhaling nitrogen gas.
He was found guilty of Annetra Jones’ murder in April 1992. By a decision of 7 to 5, the jury at his trial suggested that he be given a life sentence. However, a judge overturned that ruling and nevertheless placed him on death row, where he was placed in 1994.
Judge Talmage Lee Carter of Marion County Circuit Court ordered the assessment to determine whether (his) mental condition is sufficiently warped by a mental disorder that he is unable to comprehend the state’s justification for his execution.
In other words, Carter stated, the question is whether his understanding of reality is so distorted that he is unable to understand the significance and goal of the execution or the connection between his offense and its penalty.
The report should provide treatment choices and where they could be completed if Roberts is not competent to be executed, the judge wrote.
According to Roberts’ attorneys from the Federal Defenders for the Middle District, the prisoner has schizophrenia, which has been confirmed by medical professionals. According to them, Roberts has suffered from mood disorders and insanity since he was a young adult, and his circumstances on Alabama’s death row have gotten worse.
Despite taking prescribed anti-psychotic medicine for more than 20 years, he is now floridly psychotic. He is unable to comprehend his mental condition because of his severe paranoia, auditory hallucinations, and delusions.
The state requested that the mental evaluation be accelerated but did not oppose to it.
