Posted on 12/01/2004 12:48:09 PM PST by SmithL
HARRISBURG -- A day before he was scheduled to die, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the execution of a man convicted of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage in 1982.
The justices sent the case back to the trial court for a hearing on whether 62-year-old George E. Banks is mentally competent.
Banks was convicted of killing five of his children, four current or former girlfriends and four others in Wilkes-Barre. The former prison guard said he wanted to protect his children from the abuse he suffered as a biracial child.
He was scheduled to die by lethal injection. But his mother asked for a reprieve, arguing her son was too mentally ill to pursue appeals. On Monday, a judge said the request for a stay had been filed too late.
Ray Hall, whose son was among Banks' victims, said the delay was a bitter disappointment.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
He's 62. How old is his mother? 85?
Shouldn't they hold a hearing on whether she is still competent to ask for a reprieve?
When will we hear a judge say "fry the bastard"?
Too crazy to die? What a concept!
Don't ya think that this guy's mental state would have been decided by now, a mere 22 years after the murders?
Well if he`s mentally competent to kill 13 people then he`s more than mentally competent to face his executioner. After all, it`s something he has a lot of experience doing.
If 13 murders isn't enough to execute this jerk, how many would it take to make the Penna. Supreme Court agree to a death sentence?
I think the Judge in this case should be awarded custody of the killer. Then the killer should be placed under house arrest at his new home with the Judge and his family.
Many of those that he killed were his children and the mothers of his children.
Huh? For cryin' out loud, he has been on death row since the early 80s. Wouldn't mental incompetency have shown up long before this. What a ploy to keep this murderer from due justice.
Worth enough votes to turn Pennsylvania "red" in 2008.
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