Justice is being served in Ohio this morning (hopefully). The killer-rapist-thief's lawyers have caused a slight delay by claiming the killer-rapist-thief has a brain abnormality. Seems hard to believe that the killer-rapist-thief had an abnormality when he had the presence of mind to rip off TVs and a stereo after stabbing & then raping (while she bled to death) the victim. When you see the clock hit 10:00 this morning, feel safer as one less murderer-rapist-thief is one less worry for law-abiding citizens like yourselves. Justice served.
U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Delay Execution of Ohio Prisoner
CINCINNATI - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night rejected a request that it delay the execution of an Ohio prisoner who claims he has a brain abnormality that may have affected his behavior in 1987 when he raped and murdered a woman.
William H. Smith, 47, is to receive a lethal injection at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility for the 1987 rape, robbery and murder of Mary Bradford at her Cincinnati apartment.
Justice John Paul Stevens, who handles appeals from Ohio, referred the matter to the full court, and the court denied the request to hear Smith's appeal without issuing further comment, officials with the Supreme Court said Monday night.
Smith's lawyer, Jennifer Kinsley, said Monday night her client is out of appeals and no further actions were planned on his behalf.
"We're done with our appeals," she said.
Smith, 47, claims the abnormality detected during a brain scan after he fainted in prison may have affected his behavior when he stabbed Bradford, raped her as she lay dying and then made three trips to his car to steal her stereo and two television sets. The defense is not challenging Smith's conviction but says the abnormality could have spared him from the death sentence at trial.
Smith's attorneys had argued that an independent analysis of tests done on his brain needed to be done.
Thirteen judges from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Monday with a three-judge panel that lifted a stay of execution, saying that two brain tests did not prove Smith has an abnormality.
On Monday, Gov. Bob Taft rejected a request to commute Smith's sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole, citing a lack of evidence to support his brain abnormality claim.