LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Lawyers for the state of Arkansas said Wednesday that an inmate next in line for execution is attempting to “frustrate” the system by raising appeals the state and U.S. supreme courts have already considered.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on March 1 dissolved a stay of execution for Don Davis, who was convicted in 1992 of killing a northwest Arkansas woman. Davis said he didn’t receive aid from an independent mental health provider during his trial, but the state contends he wasn’t entitled to it.
Davis last week asked the Arkansas high court to set aside the effect of its ruling so he could take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a filing Wednesday, lawyers for the state said courts affirmed Davis’ conviction and sentence during cases resolved in 1994 and 2011 - after addressing the same issue.
The inmate’s request “is really being used to frustrate the enforcement of a conviction and sentence,” lawyer Kelly Fields wrote for the state. Fields also wrote that Davis has no new arguments on which to base an appeal.
Inmate Bruce Ward has raised a separate, similar appeal. The state did not respond to Ward’s petition Wednesday. Ward and inmate Jack Greene also question whether Arkansas’ prison’s director is an appropriate judge of their sanity.
Davis and Ward had been among eight men set to die in an 11-day period last April but won stays of execution pending their current appeals.
Arkansas currently does not have a full supply of execution drugs.
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