Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Ark. To Decide on Delusional Inmate
> PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) -- A death row inmate who is
> delusional when not forced to take anti-psychotic
> medication pleaded for his life Monday at a hearing on
> whether the state can execute him during his moments of
> sanity.
>
> Charles Singleton, convicted of killing Mary Lou York
> at her grocery store in 1979, told the judge that he
> was mentally ill at the time and that a state
> prosecutor was out to get him.
>
> ``She is trying to kill me,'' Singleton said, gesturing
> toward Assistant Attorney General Kelly Hill. ``I'm
> poor. Ms. Hill has all the resources. I have nothing.''
>
> Jefferson County Circuit Judge Fred Davis told
> Singleton that the hearing wouldn't address whether he
> was guilty, innocent or insane.
>
> The court is to determine whether it's proper for the
> state to kill Singleton while he's on medication that
> keeps him sane. In general, courts do not allow insane
> people to be put to death and have prevented states
> from medicating prisoners so they'll be sane enough to
> execute.
>
> Last month, two days before Singleton was to be
> executed by injection, the state's highest court
> stopped it and ordered the case to the circuit court.
>
> His hearing has been held in three stages since March
> 18. The circuit court's decision is expected by May 22.
>
> Singleton, 39, is a paranoid schizophrenic who has had
> delusions that his death sentence was set aside and
> that he was being held in prison illegally, doctors
> said.
>
> He had been voluntarily taking the anti-psychotic drugs
> Prolixin and Cogentin, but when he stopped last summer,
> a prison medical panel directed that he be forcibly
> medicated to protect himself and others.
>
> Under questioning by Hill Monday, Singleton said he
> wants to be off the drugs.
>
> Dr. Walter Oglesby, a prison psychiatrist, said
> Singleton's mood changed dramatically when he stopped
> taking the drugs.
>
> ``He over the years had been very friendly,'' Oglesby
> said. But at a meeting last July, Singleton was ``very
> hostile and belligerent.''
--
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