A prisoner sentenced to death for the murder of his baby daughter has been denied clemency after his lawyers argued that he suffering from schizophrenzia. Benjamin Cole, 57, is set to be executed on October 20, with his legal team requesting a competency hearing that would have allowed a jury to decide if he was fit to face the death penalty.
However, their request was denied by an Oklahoma judge based on evidence provided by a psychologist, who said that offender is able understand he is being executed. Cole's representatives stated that he is a schizophrenic, with his condition likely caused by an identified brain lesion and the extreme abuse he was subjected to as a child.
As reported by the Mirror, attorney Tom Hird said Cole "simply does not have a rational understanding of why Oklahoma seeks to execute him". A Supreme Court ruling states that a death sentence cannot be enforced if a convicted person has become mentally ill. Hird added: "Benjamin Cole is incapacitated by his mental illness to the point of being essentially non-functional.
"Benjamin Cole is incapacitated by his mental illness to the point of being essentially non-functional. His own attorneys have not been able to have a meaningful interaction with him for years, and the staff who interact with him in the prison every day confirm that he cannot communicate or take care of his most basic hygiene."
The state, meanwhile, argues that Cole merely has a personality disorder and is manipulative. Pittsburg County District Judge Mike Hogan disagreed with the arguments of Cole's lawyers and drew on analysis by a psychologist at the Oklahoma Forensic Centre, who said they believed Cole would be able to understand he is being executed.
Cole is known to crawl around in his cell, is suffering from physical ailments and has been "pulling out his own teeth and mailing them to his mother and his legal team". The appeal for clemency was knocked down by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board by four votes to one last week and after the competency trial was denied, the team has said they will be appealing the judge's decision.
Hird added: "The warden’s refusal to initiate competency proceedings is an abuse of his discretion, and we will promptly appeal."
During the examination cited by Judge Hogan, Cole is reported to have said: "Are you asking if I see little green men running around on the floor that beam up in a spaceship to Venus and look for the purple monsters? No, I do not see things. I never have."
Warden Jim Farris also believes Cole to be fit to be executed and cited the same report.
What is not up for dispute is the brutality of Cole's crime. He murdered his daughter in 2002 when she started crying and he grabbed her legs, forcing her body to be bent back.
Just nine months old at the time, Brianna Cole died when her spine was snapped in half and the injury tore her aorta. Cole then went back to playing a video game.
At the clemency hearing, Brianna's uncle said he "can't fathom" what Cole did to his daughter.
Dr Bryan Young said: "I can't fathom how any human could do what this man did to this baby. How could any human do that to a baby?
"The mind boggles me. That's why I am encouraging you guys to deny him clemency."
Further concerns lie in the context of death penalty cases across the US and in Oklahoma in particular. Oklahoma recently committed to executing a 'man a month', but has faced repeated criticisms for botched executions, the drugs it uses for lethal injection and a lack of transparency when executions are conducted.
Cole, for example, was due to be executed in 2015 but it was called off due to a mix-up involving the drugs. Oklahoma was forced to halt executions in 2014 after a grim episode during the death of murderer Clayton Lockett.
Lockett was left writhing in pain for 43 minutes after he was injected with the drug midazolam. After repeated attempts to find a vein, the paramedic administered the help of a doctor - this posed further questions over ethics - and connected the intravenous (IV) drip into his groin.
The execution was eventually called off, but Lockett, whose accomplice buried their victim alive in a shallow grave, died anyway. Lawyers are not allowed in the room with their client as an IV drip is placed, so they are unaware if the correct drugs have been used or if there was a problem placing the IV.
They do not see their client again until they appear in the execution chamber.
Questions also remain over the type of drug use; the sedative midazolam. Its critics say it is unconstitutional and may leave a prisoner in severe pain while they appear to be at peace.
A judge upheld a previous ruling in June this year that said the eighth amendment "does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death". Support for the death penalty remains the majority opinion in Oklahoma and the rest of the US. Oklahoma itself executes more people per capita than any other state.
Despite this, attorney Emma Rolls recently told the Mirror that she feels Cole's mental state would alarm the average Oklahoman. "I do believe if just the average Oklahoman were to look at the facts underlying Mr Cole's mental illness they would be moved," she said.
"It would be absolutely unconscionable and unconstitutional to execute him. He has to use a wheelchair, and people have seen him crawl around on the floor of his cell.
"It is really a spectacle to think that the state of Oklahoma [think Cole] is a threat that requires his execution."
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