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| Miss. Governor Grants Temporary Death Stay |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/08/2003 |
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Gov. Ronnie Musgrove on Monday issued a temporary reprieve for a death row inmate, citing questions over the convict's age at the time of the crime and his mental ability. Ron Foster was 17 when he shot to death a convenience store clerk during an attempted robbery in Lowndes County in 1989. Musgrove said the reprieve would last until the constitutional questions raised by Foster's lawyers concerning Foster's age and mental ability are addressed by the U.S. and Mississippi supreme courts. Musgrove said he was looking closely at whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up another juvenile offender case from Oklahoma. Foster's lawyers and death penalty opponents have been waging a campaign to spare from execution individuals who were juveniles when their crimes were committed. A recent appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court also claims that Foster, now 30, is mentally retarded. 'This is a very complex situation and there are two different issues,' Musgrove said. 'One is the execution of a juvenile, which has not been decided and potentially will be decided. The other is the execution of the mentally retarded. Now the question is, has Chris Foster been given the opportunity to present that in his sentencing phase as to whether he is in fact mentally retarded.' State and federal authorities have executed 820 inmates since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Mississippi has executed six of them. |
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