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| Inmate Found Mentally Incompetent |
| By Knight Ridder Newspapers |
| Published: 03/06/2006 |
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Pennsylvania death-row inmate George E. Banks, who came within a day of being put to death in late 2004, was declared mentally incompetent to be executed last week. Banks, now 63, received the death sentence in 1983 for a shooting spree the year before in and around Wilkes-Barre that left 13 people dead, including five of his own children. It remains the worst killing rampage by one person in state history. "His longstanding delusions render him unable to rationally comprehend his death sentence, its reasons or its implications," Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan stated in his order. "George Banks is a very mentally sick man." Senior Deputy Attorney General Jonelle H. Eshbach said the decision will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Banks' mental condition is an issue because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that it is unconstitutional to execute the insane and that a hearing should be held to determine whether a prisoner is mentally competent and understands why he is about to be executed. As Banks' scheduled execution approached in December 2004, his mother sought a reprieve for her son, saying he was too mentally ill to pursue any appeals. The state Supreme Court halted the execution and ordered the competency hearing. That hearing was held earlier this month. Two psychiatrists and a psychologist described Banks as psychotic, delusional and irrational, and said he does not comprehend his sentence or the reasons for it. His mental state has always been an issue. At the time of the murders, Banks had been on leave from his job as a prison officer; he had been told to seek help after threatening suicide. At trial, his lawyers mounted an insanity defense. They argued that Banks, son of a black father and white mother, had been driven to murder by delusions of looming race wars and worries about the racial abuse his children might suffer. |
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