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TX Death Row Inmate Raymond Riles - Incompetent to be Executed, Still on Death Row

By Kristin Houle

KPRC Local 2 news in Houston recently investigated the case of Texas death row inmate Raymond Riles, who has been declared incompetent to be executed on numerous occasions. Riles has spent more than 30 years on death row and will remain there indefinitely, despite the fact that the state is not seeking an execution date (and has not done so since 1986). All parties agree that Riles sufffers from severe mental illness and does not meet the standards for competency (awareness of his execution and the reason for it). In its 1986 decision Ford v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute someone who does not understand the reason for or the reality of his or her punishment. The Ford decision left the determination of insanity and competency for execution up to each state...continue to full post

Full post as published by Prevention Not Punishment on August 13, 2008 (boomark / email).