The US Supreme Court denied late yesterday, the state of Tennessee’s request to lift a stay of execution for death row inmate Paul Dennis Reid.
The death warrant for the convicted killer expired last night, and Reid was returned to his cell. The state asked the US Supreme Court to intervene to end the stay, but it refused.
Reid has refused to appeal his execution and his lawyers say he his delusional and is therefore incompetent.
Randy Tatel is President of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing. He says persons deemed insane during trial aren’t allowed to be executed. But Tatel says being legally insane is such a high standard to meet, that it rules out other forms of mental illnesses when appealing.
“That’s part of what has created this disconnect between medical definition of severe mental illness and the various phrases and definitions of insanity and mental illness that exist within the legal field.”
The state’s lawyers could not be reached for comment last night. Reid was convicted of killing 7 people in fast-food restaurants in Nashville and Clarksville in 1997. Reid will now go before the sixth circuit court of appeals for a competency hearing.
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