QUOTE
Supreme Court stays execution for Timberlake
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A convicted murderer who argued he should be spared from his death sentence because of his mental illness was granted a stay of execution Wednesday after the state's highest court said it wanted to wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a similar case.
Norman Timberlake, 59, had been scheduled to die Friday by lethal injection for the 1993 slaying of a state trooper.
The Indiana Supreme Court said Timberlake's case could be affected by the Texas case of Scott Louis Panetti, convicted of killing his estranged wife's parents in 1992. Panetti's attorneys have said he has suffered from severe mental illness for 25 years.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Panetti's case, expected this summer, could change the standard for executing mentally ill patients by offering a new interpretation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment.
Timberlake's attorneys have argued that he should not die because he is insane and therefore does not qualify for the death penalty.
The 3-2 vote to grant the stay came a day after the Indiana Parole Board unanimously recommended Gov. Mitch Daniels deny clemency to Timberlake, of New Albany.
Timberlake was sentenced to death in 1995 for the Feb. 5, 1993, fatal shooting of Master Trooper Michael E. Greene, 43, along Interstate 65 on Indianapolis' northwest side during a routine traffic step.
He has maintained his innocence, blaming Greene's shooting on his traveling companion.
In voting to deny clemency, parole board member Board member Randall Gentry said there was no evidence Timberlake was mentally ill at the time of the shooting.
Timberlake's attorney, Lorinda Youngcourt, said she met Wednesday with Timberlake at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was relieved, but not elated, by the news that the court had agreed to delay his execution, she said.
“Because of his mental problems, he is not a very emotional guy,” she said.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A convicted murderer who argued he should be spared from his death sentence because of his mental illness was granted a stay of execution Wednesday after the state's highest court said it wanted to wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a similar case.
Norman Timberlake, 59, had been scheduled to die Friday by lethal injection for the 1993 slaying of a state trooper.
The Indiana Supreme Court said Timberlake's case could be affected by the Texas case of Scott Louis Panetti, convicted of killing his estranged wife's parents in 1992. Panetti's attorneys have said he has suffered from severe mental illness for 25 years.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Panetti's case, expected this summer, could change the standard for executing mentally ill patients by offering a new interpretation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment.
Timberlake's attorneys have argued that he should not die because he is insane and therefore does not qualify for the death penalty.
The 3-2 vote to grant the stay came a day after the Indiana Parole Board unanimously recommended Gov. Mitch Daniels deny clemency to Timberlake, of New Albany.
Timberlake was sentenced to death in 1995 for the Feb. 5, 1993, fatal shooting of Master Trooper Michael E. Greene, 43, along Interstate 65 on Indianapolis' northwest side during a routine traffic step.
He has maintained his innocence, blaming Greene's shooting on his traveling companion.
In voting to deny clemency, parole board member Board member Randall Gentry said there was no evidence Timberlake was mentally ill at the time of the shooting.
Timberlake's attorney, Lorinda Youngcourt, said she met Wednesday with Timberlake at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was relieved, but not elated, by the news that the court had agreed to delay his execution, she said.
“Because of his mental problems, he is not a very emotional guy,” she said.