Mass Murderer Too Mentally Ill For Execution
Mass Murderer Too Mentally Ill For Execution Mar 28, 2006 7:59 pm US/Eastern (AP) WILKES-BARRE, Pa. Prosecutors have appealed a judge’s ruling that mass murderer George Banks is too mentally ill to be executed. Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan ruled Feb. 27 that Banks cannot be put to death because he is too mentally ill to understand he is facing execution for the 1982 murders of 13 people. The state Attorney General’s Office on Monday appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing that Conahan improperly prevented a prosecution expert from testifying at Banks’ competency hearing. Psychiatrists for the defense testified that Banks has the delusional belief that he has been pardoned and that his psychosis prevented him from making sound decisions. Banks used a semiautomatic rifle to kill seven children—five of them his own—plus his three live-in girlfriends, an ex-girlfriend and her mother, and a bystander in the street. Banks, who is biracial, claimed he shot his children to spare them the racial prejudice he endured in Wilkes-Barre, a city 100 miles north of Philadelphia. Prosecutors noted his history of abusing women and said he had been involved in a nasty custody battle with one of the victims. http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_087200345.html