Aug. 5
ALABAMA:
Supreme Court denies stay of execution to aging Alabama inmate
A 74-year-old condemned murderer was denied a stay by the U.S. Supreme
Court as he neared a scheduled execution Thursday that would make him the
oldest inmate put to death in the United States in decades.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court denied a stay for James Barney Hubbard,
whose attorney contended it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment
to execute an inmate so old and mentally incompetent.
Hubbard, Alabama's oldest death row inmate, was scheduled to die at 6 p.m.
CDT by lethal injection at Holman Prison for the 1977 murder of
62-year-old Lillian Montgomery of Tuscaloosa. She was shot in the head and
robbed after befriehnding Hubbard, who had been released from prison after
serving 19 years for a 1957 killing.
He had also asked for a commuted sentence from Gov. Bob Riley, who after
the Supreme Court's decision said he would not block the execution. He
said Hubbard had committed a "heinous and violent" crime.
"Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered,"
Riley said.
Defense Attorney Alan Rose said Hubbard would be the oldest person
executed in the United States in 63 years.
In his filing with the Supreme Court, Rose said that "Hubbard's age-based
execution claim appears to raise a novel issue," but added that it is in
line with claims of cruel and unusual punishment made by others "based
upon their status."
The state, in response, said the age and dementia claims should have been
made earlier and are now barred by law.
"Murderers especially repeat killers like Hubbard do not deserve
'leniency' merely because their life of crime does not result in the
imposition of a death sentence until later in life," the state's response
said.
Hubbard, in his federal appeals, said he didn't speak up about his mental
state and health sooner because the conditions were related to his aging
and didn't exist when he was younger. Court filings on his behalf say he
has been diagnosed with dementia, along with other ailments.
The state's response said dementia does not automatically mean a person is
mentally incompetent and that Hubbard had not sought mental treatment
during his recent decades as a condemned inmate.
Hubbard appealed to the high court Wednesday after the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in a 2-1 vote denied the request for a stay. In the
Supreme Court's 5-4 decision, the stay was denied by Chief Justice William
Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony
Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer would have granted the stay.
Records from the Death Penalty Information Center show Hubbard would be
the oldest U.S. prisoner put to death since executions resumed in 1977
with approval of the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Hubbard would be
the oldest person executed in the United States since 1941, when James
Stephens of Colorado was executed at age 76.
(source: Associated Press)
