Jack Greene's bid to be declared insane ahead of his impending execution was dismissed by a Jefferson County circuit judge Friday, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters that he also was not buying the argument.
The judge's ruling was immediately appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Greene is scheduled to be put to death Thursday.
The governor, meanwhile, said he'll be open to considering any new information up until the final moment before Greene's execution. For now, the governor doesn't see any merit in stopping the execution.
"I have reviewed all the transcripts. I have reviewed the case files. I have reviewed the proceedings before the Parole Board, including the oral testimony of Jack Greene," Hutchinson said via teleconference from Shanghai, where he is on an economic development trip.
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"In his own words, he describes the murder of the victim, why he did it and he understood clearly why he is being held accountable," Hutchinson said. "I've seen nothing that causes me concern in proceeding forward at this point."
Greene was sentenced to death for the 1991 slaying of Sidney Burnett, a retired Johnson County minister who was tied up, beaten and shot within his home.
When he killed Burnett, Greene was on the run after having killed his brother in North Carolina. Dressed in prison whites, Greene accepted responsibility for both killings during a clemency hearing at the state prison Varner Unit last month.
During that hearing, Greene also said that his lawyers were involved in a state conspiracy to keep him from being extradited to North Carolina. He laid out the same argument Thursday to Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis, who listened for a while before telling Greene that's not what his case is about.
In Dennis' court, Greene's attorneys had sought a hearing to determine whether Greene is competent to be executed. They also challenged the state law by which prisons director Wendy Kelley determined that Greene is competent to be put to death.
Dennis, however, said in her ruling that she did not have the authority to stay an execution and that those powers are vested with the Arkansas Supreme Court.
John Williams, Greene's federal public defender, said he was not surprised by the Friday ruling. In April, Dennis dismissed a similar claim of mental incompetence filed by another condemned inmate, Bruce Earl Ward, ahead of his scheduled execution.
Ward ultimately had his execution stayed by the Arkansas Supreme Court on two separate grounds related to his alleged incompetency. Williams said the high court could reach the same conclusion with Greene.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, speaking through a spokesman, expressed equal confidence.
"She fully expects the execution to move forward as scheduled," said Judd Deere, Rutledge's spokesman. "Our office is prepared to respond to any arguments and challenges."
U.S. Supreme Court precedent does not bar the execution of mentally ill people, but it does require the condemned to understand the reason for their punishments.
Greene's attorneys argue that he fails to reach that threshold after he has spent more than a decade in confinement behind a solid metal door. In addition to his claims of a conspiracy, Greene habitually stuffs tissues in his ears and nose, and rambles about damage to his central nervous system.
Family members of Burnett, Greene's victim, told the Parole Board last month that they believe Greene's behavior is part of a deliberate act to save his life.
Metro on 11/04/2017