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| Autism diagnosis cited in appeal to halt Georgia execution |
| By timesfreepress.com |
| Published: 10/18/2016 |
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ATLANTA — A Georgia death row inmate's recent autism diagnosis helps explain his actions the night he killed one police officer and wounded another, his lawyers argued in a clemency application declassified Monday. Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted of murder in the October 1997 shooting death of Atlanta police Officer John Sowa, and authorities say he also critically injured Officer Patricia Cocciolone. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only authority in Georgia with power to commute a death sentence, has scheduled a clemency hearing Tuesday to hear from representatives for Lawler. His lawyers are asking the board to halt his execution to consider the new diagnosis and spare his life. A clinical neuropsychologist last month diagnosed Lawler with autism spectrum disorder with symptoms that most closely match those of Asperger's syndrome, his lawyers wrote in the clemency application. Read More. |
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