On June 18, the Ohio Supreme Court stayed the exe­cu­tion of Abdul Awkal (pic­tured) indef­i­nite­ly fol­low­ing a coun­ty court’s rul­ing that he was men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent to face exe­cu­tion. Awkal was orig­i­nal­ly sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on June 6, but short­ly before the exe­cu­tion Governor John Kasich grant­ed a two-week reprieve to allow time for a men­tal com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing. Judge Stuart Friedman presided over that hear­ing and sub­se­quent­ly ruled that Awkal was too men­tal­ly ill to be put to death, cit­ing Awkal’s belief that the CIA was orches­trat­ing his exe­cu­tion and that he played a cru­cial role in the country’s war on ter­ror­ism. The judge wrote: ​“Based upon an exhaus­tive review of all the evi­dence … Abdul Awkal present­ly lacks the capac­i­ty to form a ratio­nal under­stand­ing as to the rea­son the state intends to exe­cute him.” Awkal was sen­tenced to death in 1992 for the mur­der of his wife and broth­er-in-law. Originally, he was found incom­pe­tent to stand tri­al. If a court lat­er finds his com­pe­ten­cy has been restored, he could still face execution.

David Singleton, attor­ney for Awkal, said, ​“In a fair and thor­ough fact-find­ing hear­ing that took place over the course of sev­er­al days, Mr. Awkal has been found men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent. Therefore our Constitution pro­hibits his exe­cu­tion. Given Mr. Awkal’s men­tal incom­pe­tence, we are con­fi­dent that the court’s rul­ing will be the final word in this mat­ter.” The U.S. Supreme Court held in Ford v. Wainwright (1986) that exe­cut­ing the insane is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, because insane indi­vid­u­als are so out of touch with real­i­ty that they do not know right from wrong and can­not under­stand their pun­ish­ment or the pur­pose of it. In Panetti v. Quarterman (2007), the Court said that an eval­u­a­tion of men­tal com­pe­ten­cy should con­sid­er whether a defen­dan­t’s men­tal ill­ness interef­eres with his ratio­nal under­stand­ing of the rea­son for his execution.

The Ohio Parole Board had vot­ed 8 – 1 against rec­om­mend­ing clemen­cy for Awkal.

(A. Welsh-Huggins, ​“Ohio Supreme Court delays exe­cu­tion of con­demned killer deemed incom­pe­tent by judge,” Associated Press, June 18, 2012). Read the County Court’s Order. See Mental Illness. Listent to DPIC’s pod­cast on Mental Illness.

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