Mississippi Legal professional Normal Lynn Fitch, a Republican, is searching for 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 enchantment 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 pupil Kristy Ray, in keeping with 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 mentioned Monday that they’re interesting that conviction to the Supreme Court docket after a decrease courtroom dominated towards them final week.
Crawford was arrested the day after Ray was kidnapped from her dad and mom’ dwelling and stabbed to demise in Tippah County. Crawford advised officers he had blacked out and didn’t bear in mind killing her.
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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 pupil, 20-year-old Kristy Ray. (Mississippi Division of Corrections through 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 woman who was pals with the sufferer of the hammer assault. The victims have been on the similar place throughout the assaults.
Crawford mentioned 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, in keeping with courtroom 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 enchantment of the rape case, Crawford claimed his earlier attorneys offered unconstitutionally ineffective help for an madness protection. He obtained 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, courtroom data present.
On Friday, a majority of the fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals rejected Crawford’s enchantment.
However the dissenting judges wrote that he obtained an “inadequately ready and offered madness protection” and that “it took years for a certified doctor to conduct a full analysis of Crawford.” The dissenting judges quoted Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni, a neurologist who examined Crawford.
“Charles was laboring underneath such a defect of purpose from his seizure dysfunction that he didn’t perceive the character and high quality of his acts on the time of the crime,” Nadkarni wrote. “He’s a severely brain-injured man (corroborated each by historical past and his neurological examination) who was basically not current in any helpful sense on account of epileptic matches on the time of the crime.”
Photograph reveals the gurney of an execution chamber. (AP Photograph/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 courtroom denied Crawford’s newest enchantment, 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 cures.”
Nevertheless, the attorneys representing Crawford within the Mississippi Workplace of Submit-Conviction Counsel filed paperwork on Monday stating that they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court docket to overturn the appeals courtroom’s ruling.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
