By Brandi Grissom
The Texas Tribune
DALLAS, Tx. — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that state District Judge Wayne Salvant did not have the authority to order prison officials to forcibly medicate a mentally ill Death Row inmate from Tarrant County for the purpose of making him competent for execution.
And without medication, the judges said, inmate Steven Staley is not competent to be executed.
“We hold that the evidence conclusively shows that appellant’s competency to be executed was achieved solely through the involuntary medication, which the trial court had no authority to order under the competency-to-be-executed statute,” Judge Elsa Alcala wrote in the majority opinion.
The judges did not answer the question of whether it is constitutional to medicate mentally ill inmates to make them competent for execution. The 5-4 ruling focused on a judge’s authority to order forcible medication.
Full story: Judges can’t order forcible medication of mentally ill inmate, court rules