Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) is seeking an execution date for a convicted murderer who has been on death row for 30 years, but his lawyers say the man plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Therefore, they argue that this request is premature.
Charles Ray Crawford, 58, was sentenced to death for the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old community college student Christy Ray. Associated Press.
During his 1994 trial, jurors pointed to Mr. Crawford's past rape conviction as an aggravating circumstance when sentencing him, but a lower court ruled against Mr. Crawford last week. His lawyers announced on Monday that they would appeal the conviction to the Supreme Court.
Crawford was arrested a day after Ray was kidnapped from his parents' home and stabbed to death in Tipa County. Crawford told officers he was unconscious and did not remember killing her.
Texas lawmaker proposes bill to abolish death penalty in Lone Star State: 'I think sentiment is changing'
Mississippi death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford was convicted of kidnapping and murdering 20-year-old community college student Christy Ray in 1993 and sentenced to death in 1994. (Mississippi Department of Corrections, Associated Press)
He was arrested days before his scheduled trial on charges of assault, including hitting another woman in the head with a hammer.
The assault trial was postponed several months before he was sentenced. In a separate trial, Crawford was found guilty of raping a 17-year-old girl who was a friend of the hammer attack victim. The victim was in the same location during the attack.
Crawford said she lost consciousness during these incidents and did not remember assaulting her with the hammer or committing the rape.
During the sentencing portion of Crawford's capital murder trial in Ray's death, jurors found the rape conviction an “aggravating circumstance” and sentenced him to death, according to court records.
Trump-supporting prison warden urges Biden to commute all death sentences before release
In the sentencing portion of Crawford's death sentence, jurors determined that Crawford's past rape conviction was an “aggravating circumstance” and handed down the death sentence. (St. Petersburg)
In a recent federal appeal of the rape case, Mr. Crawford argued that his previous lawyers provided unconstitutional and ineffective assistance to his insanity defense. He underwent psychiatric evaluation at a state hospital, but the trial judge repeatedly refused to allow psychiatrists or out-of-state mental health professionals to assist in Crawford's defense, according to court records.
On Friday, a majority of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Crawford's appeal.
But the dissenting judges said Crawford was “poorly prepared and presented with an insanity defense” and that “it took years for a qualified physician to fully evaluate Crawford.” ” he wrote. The dissenting judges cited Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni, a neurologist who examined Crawford.
“Charles was operating under a lack of rationality due to a seizure disorder and did not understand the nature and quality of his actions at the time of his crimes,” Nadkarni wrote. “He is a man with severe brain damage (supported by his medical history and neurological examination) who was essentially not present in any sense at the time of the crime due to an epileptic seizure.”
The photo shows a stretcher in the execution chamber. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Crawford's case has already been appealed multiple times, using a variety of arguments, as is common in death penalty cases.
Hours after a federal appeals court rejected Crawford's latest appeal, Fitch announced that Crawford was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, saying “he has exhausted all state and federal remedies.” filed papers asking the state Supreme Court to establish a
But attorneys representing Crawford from the Mississippi Post-Conviction Attorney's Office filed a document Monday saying they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court's decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
