Paranoid Inmate Death Stay Lifted
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal appeals court Monday ruled that a paranoid schizophrenic inmate who is sane only when forced to take medication is eligible for death row.
A sharply divided U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay of execution for Charles Singleton, saying his medically induced sanity makes him eligible for execution.
Singleton’s defense had argued it was in his best interest to take anti-psychotic medicine -- until the resulting sanity put him on the path to Arkansas’ death chamber. His lawyers asked that the sentence be reduced to life in prison.
Six of the 11 judges on the panel voted to lift the stay.
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