Ohio poised to execute man for killing 3 sons
Source: Agencies |
November 16, 2011, Wednesday
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OHIO state in the United States was poised yesterday morning to end a nearly six-month break in its use of capital punishment by executing a man who fatally shot his three sons while they slept, shortly after his wife filed for divorce.
State and US courts have rejected attorneys' arguments that 66-year-old Reginald Brooks is not mentally competent and that the government withheld relevant evidence that could have affected Brooks' case.
The US Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal from Brooks yesterday, rejecting it without comment.
Brooks refused breakfast as the execution approached. He would be the oldest person put to death since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. Prisons spokesman Carlo LoParo said Brooks did not appear to be emotional.
The defense contends Brooks is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from mental illness long before he shot his three sons, aged 11, 15 and 17, in the head as they slept at their home in 1982. The defense argues that Brooks believed his co-workers and wife were poisoning him and that he maintains his innocence, offering conspiracy theories about the killings that involve police, his relatives and a look-alike.
Beverly Brooks, who found her sons dead in bed when she returned from work, told the Ohio Parole Board she believes the killings were an act of revenge for her divorce filing, not the result of mental illness, and she supports Brooks' execution. She is among those scheduled to witness it.
Prosecutors acknowledge Brooks is mentally ill but dispute the notions that it caused the murders or makes him incompetent.
They say he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks in advance, confirmed he'd be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn't resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him start a new life.
"It is a travesty that Reginald Brooks has lived so long on death row after cruelly shooting his three boys to death," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said in a statement on Monday.
State and US courts have rejected attorneys' arguments that 66-year-old Reginald Brooks is not mentally competent and that the government withheld relevant evidence that could have affected Brooks' case.
The US Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal from Brooks yesterday, rejecting it without comment.
Brooks refused breakfast as the execution approached. He would be the oldest person put to death since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. Prisons spokesman Carlo LoParo said Brooks did not appear to be emotional.
The defense contends Brooks is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from mental illness long before he shot his three sons, aged 11, 15 and 17, in the head as they slept at their home in 1982. The defense argues that Brooks believed his co-workers and wife were poisoning him and that he maintains his innocence, offering conspiracy theories about the killings that involve police, his relatives and a look-alike.
Beverly Brooks, who found her sons dead in bed when she returned from work, told the Ohio Parole Board she believes the killings were an act of revenge for her divorce filing, not the result of mental illness, and she supports Brooks' execution. She is among those scheduled to witness it.
Prosecutors acknowledge Brooks is mentally ill but dispute the notions that it caused the murders or makes him incompetent.
They say he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks in advance, confirmed he'd be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn't resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him start a new life.
"It is a travesty that Reginald Brooks has lived so long on death row after cruelly shooting his three boys to death," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said in a statement on Monday.
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