NASHVILLE, TN - The state Supreme Court has ruled that criminals sentenced to die in Tennessee must personally approve the filing of their final appeal process.

In a ruling filed Thursday, the state's high court denied petitions filed on behalf of Daryl Keith Holton and Paul Dennis Reid Jr. to stay their executions. The court said the petitions, filed by the state Post-Conviction Defenders Office, were invalid because they were not signed under oath by the inmates.

The decision will also affect death row inmate Stephen Hugueley, a three-time murderer who has stated publicly that he wants to be executed as planned Aug. 15, said Don Dawson, post-conviction defender.

In filing the petitions, Dawson argued that inmates who don't take advantage of the opportunity to file final appeals should first be evaluated to determine if they are competent to make that decision.

The trial courts had agreed to stay the executions. The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected an appeal hearing by the state Attorney General's Office, which took the matter to the state's high court.

“After reviewing the records and applicable authority, however, we conclude that the post-conviction trial courts did not have the authority to consider the petitions because they had not been signed or verified under oath [by the convicts],” the Supreme Court wrote.

Death row inmates in Tennessee get an automatic direct appeal of their convictions to determine if errors were made at trial. The inmate can then enter the next level of appeal, called post-conviction, to explore constitutional violations, such as ineffective representation by counsel.

Dawson said the state high court's decision means once inmates miss their opportunity to enter their final appeals, there's no turning back.

“I think it's extremely significant because it locks the courthouse door to severely mentally ill inmates who aren't able on their own to determine the necessity to file a post-conviction petition,” he said.