Pennsylvania death row inmate George E. Banks, who came with­in a day of being put to death in 2004, has been declared men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. ​“His long­stand­ing delu­sions ren­der him unable to ratio­nal­ly com­pre­hend his death sen­tence, its rea­sons or its impli­ca­tions. George Banks is a very men­tal­ly sick man,” stat­ed Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan in his order. Banks was sen­tenced to death in 1983 for a shoot­ing spree that end­ed in 13 deaths, includ­ing five of his own chil­dren. At his tri­al, defense attor­neys argued that Banks was dri­ven to mur­der by delu­sions of loom­ing race wars and wor­ried that his chil­dren might suf­fer racial abuse. Since his tri­al, Banks’ men­tal state has dete­ri­o­rat­ed, and he has threat­ened to com­mit sui­cide, gone on hunger strikes, and refused med­ical and psy­chi­atric treat­ment. As his 2004 exe­cu­tion date neared, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stopped the exe­cu­tion and ordered a com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing for Banks. During that hear­ing, two psy­chi­a­trists and a psy­chol­o­gist described Banks as psy­chot­ic, delu­sion­al, and irra­tional. Senior Deputy Attorney General Jonelle H. Eshbach said the deci­sion will be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 

(Knight-Ridder, February 27, 2006). See Mental Illness.

In anoth­er recent case in South Carolina, the defen­dant Mar-Reece Aldean Hughes was found men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent to waive his post-con­vic­tion appeals. Such a waiv­er would like­ly have result­ed in his imme­di­ate exe­cu­tion. The Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled that Hughes did not under­stand the nature of the appeal he was waiv­ing and was unable to ratio­nal­ly com­mu­ni­cate with his attor­ney. Hughes was con­vict­ed of the mur­der of a police offi­cer in 1992. (See Hughes v. South Carolina, No. 26115, Feb. 13, 2006).

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