Death row inmate Edwin Hart Turner has been talkative today as he visits with family and eats his last meals, but he has requested that none of his family watch him die, state corrections officials said.
Turner will be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a stay of execution handed down Monday.
Gov. Phil Bryant also declined to step in on Turner's behalf.
"After reviewing the facts associated with Mr. Edwin Hart Turner's case, I have decided not to grant clemency for his violent acts," Bryant said in a release. "Mr. Turner has been convicted by a jury of his peers, and I see no reason to delay his execution."
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Mississippi death row inmate visits with family hours before execution | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com
Mississippi execution on after court lifts stay - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:
A federal appeals court panel vacated an order blocking an execution in Mississippi and corrections officials said they were preparing for the lethal injection of death row inmate Edwin Hart Turner at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves in Jackson issued an order on Monday that had blocked the execution until Feb. 20. But Attorney General Jim Hood filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in Hood's favor Wednesday morning and lifted the stay.
Turner's lawyer, James Craig with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, had persuaded Reeves to temporarily block the execution after arguing that a Mississippi Department of Corrections policy prevented Turner from getting tests that could prove he was mentally ill when he killed two men during robberies in 1995.
via wlbt.com
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