Mississippi Legal professional Common Lynn Fitch, a Republican, is in search of an execution date for a convicted killer who has been on demise row for 30 years, however his lawyer argues that the request is untimely for the reason that man plans to attraction to the U.S. Supreme Court docket.
Charles Ray Crawford, 58, was sentenced to demise in reference to the 1993 kidnapping and killing of 20-year-old group school scholar Kristy Ray, based on The Related Press.
Throughout his 1994 trial, jurors pointed to a previous rape conviction as an aggravating circumstance after they issued Crawford’s sentence, however his attorneys stated Monday that they’re interesting that conviction to the Supreme Court docket after a decrease court docket dominated towards them final week.
Crawford was arrested the day after Ray was kidnapped from her mother and father’ house and stabbed to demise in Tippah County. Crawford instructed officers he had blacked out and didn’t bear in mind killing her.
Mississippi demise row inmate Charles Ray Crawford, who was convicted and sentenced to demise in 1994 within the 1993 kidnapping and killing of a group school scholar, 20-year-old Kristy Ray. (Mississippi Division of Corrections by way of AP)
He was arrested simply days earlier than his scheduled trial on a cost of assaulting one other lady by hitting her over the pinnacle with a hammer.
The trial for the assault cost was delayed a number of months earlier than he was convicted. In a separate trial, Crawford was discovered responsible within the rape of a 17-year-old lady who was pals with the sufferer of the hammer assault. The victims had been on the similar place through the assaults.
Crawford stated he additionally blacked out throughout these incidents and didn’t bear in mind committing the hammer assault or the rape.
Throughout the sentencing portion of Crawford’s capital homicide trial in Ray’s demise, jurors discovered the rape conviction to be an “aggravating circumstance” and gave him the demise sentence, based on court docket data.
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Throughout the sentencing portion of Crawford’s capital homicide trial, jurors discovered his prior rape conviction to be an “aggravating circumstance” and gave him the demise sentence. (iStock)
In his newest federal attraction of the rape case, Crawford claimed his earlier legal professionals offered unconstitutionally ineffective help for an madness protection. He acquired a psychological analysis on the state hospital, however the trial choose repeatedly refused to permit a psychiatrist or different psychological well being skilled exterior the state’s knowledgeable to assist in Crawford’s protection, court docket data present.
On Friday, a majority of the fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals rejected Crawford’s attraction.
However the dissenting judges wrote that he acquired an “inadequately prepared and presented insanity defense” and that “it took years for a qualified physician to conduct a full evaluation of Crawford.” The dissenting judges quoted Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni, a neurologist who examined Crawford.
“Charles was laboring under such a defect of reason from his seizure disorder that he did not understand the nature and quality of his acts at the time of the crime,” Nadkarni wrote. “He is a severely brain-injured man (corroborated both by history and his neurological examination) who was essentially not present in any useful sense due to epileptic fits at the time of the crime.”
Picture reveals the gurney of an execution chamber. (AP Picture/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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Crawford’s case has already been appealed a number of instances utilizing varied arguments, which is widespread in demise penalty instances.
Hours after the federal appeals court docket denied Crawford’s newest attraction, Fitch filed paperwork urging the state Supreme Court docket to set a date for Crawford’s execution by deadly injection, claiming that “he has exhausted all state and federal remedies.”
Nevertheless, the attorneys representing Crawford within the Mississippi Workplace of Put up-Conviction Counsel filed paperwork on Monday stating that they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court docket to overturn the appeals court docket’s ruling.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
