For the second time this week, a man on death-row is asking the state supreme court to commute his death sentence, after the state tried to set a date for his execution.
Billy Ray Irick’s defense says he was insane at the time of the 1985 rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. And they say his mental illness should preclude him from facing the death penalty.
Irick’s is one of two executions the state has tried to set a date for this month, and earlier this week Stephen Michael West also asked the supreme court for commutation.
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The state currently has one execution date already set – that of Gaile Owens this September. You can read more about Owens’ case, along with a timeline of Tennessee executions over the last decade, at this link.
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