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| Judge rules inmate not mentally retarded, can be executed |
| By Sarasota Herald-Tribune |
| Published: 06/20/2005 |
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A circuit judge says the pending execution of Daniel Burns Jr., who shot and killed a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in 1987, can proceed because the inmate is not mentally retarded. The judge, James Parker, issued the ruling June 10, about a month after attorneys for Burns argued in court that the man's low intelligence, among other things, forbids execution under Florida law. Burns, 60, has been on death row since a jury convicted him in 1988 in the shooting death of FHP Trooper Jeff Young, 28, who pulled Burns over on Interstate 75 a mile north of the State Road 64 intersection near Bradenton. Young was gunned down after Burns grabbed the trooper's revolver. Burns fired a single shot into the trooper, who was on his knees, begging for his life. Burns was one of 17 children raised in poor, rural Mississippi. He graduated high school and he later became a cab driver, worked on an automobile assembly line and helped set up and run a watermelon business with a sister. Parker said in his ruling that Burns' "wide range of skills and abilities are inconsistent with a finding of mental retardation" and that Burns achieved some level of independence in his life. The ruling pushes the case back to the Florida Supreme Court. |
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