Mississippi
Mississippi AG Lynn Fitch has a week to answer Eddie Loden’s execution filing
Oct. 18—JACKSON — Mississippi Legal professional Basic Lynn Fitch’s workplace has per week to answer a condemned man’s declare that the state was untimely to ask for an execution date as a result of he has not but exhausted his appeals.
Mississippi Supreme Court docket Chief Justice Michael Randolph gave the state till Monday, Oct. 24 to answer the newest submitting from attorneys for Thomas Edwin “Eddie” Loden, 58, who pleaded responsible to the capital homicide, rape and 4 counts of sexual batter within the June 22, 2000, loss of life of Leesa Marie Grey, a 16-year-old waitress at a Dorsey restaurant.
Following his plea, Circuit Court docket Decide Thomas Gardner sentenced Loden to loss of life plus an extra 150 years for the opposite felony counts.
In early October, Fitch’s workplace filed a movement asking the Mississippi Supreme Court docket to set an execution date, saying the court docket’s denial of Loden’s second petition for post-conviction aid introduced the litigation of the case to an finish.
“As Loden has exhausted all state and federal cures, this Court docket ought to set an execution date,” Fitch wrote, asking the excessive court docket to set an execution date inside 28 days.
Chief Justice Randolph gave Loden and his protection workforce eight days to answer the state’s request. That response, filed Oct. 14, stated Fitch jumped the gun in asking for an execution date.
Protection legal professional Stacy Ferraro stated the denial of Loden’s second successive petition for post-conviction aid didn’t finish his appeals. She added {that a} second lawsuit difficult the state’s alternative of deadly injection medication has additionally not been settled by a federal appeals court docket.
“Mr. Loden’s federal civil motion difficult the constitutionality of the strategy the state proposes to make use of to execute him remains to be pending,” Ferraro wrote. “To keep away from interference with the processes of the federal court docket, this Court docket ought to chorus from setting an execution date.”
As soon as the state information its reply, all 9 members of the Supreme Court docket will contemplate the case primarily based on the 2 motions earlier than them. There is no such thing as a time-frame for the Supreme Court docket to rule on the case.
If the justices really feel Loden has exhausted his appeals, they may set an execution date and alert the Mississippi Division of Corrections. In the event that they agree with Loden, the Court docket will postpone the choice. That postponement may very well be open ended, or the Court docket may tie it with the federal deadly injection medication lawsuit.
Mississippi resumed executions final fall after a nine-year hiatus. David Neal Cox, who was convicted of killing his estranged spouse and sexually assaulting his step-daughter, died by deadly injection Nov. 17, 2021. Earlier than Cox, the final execution was Gary Carl Simmons Jr. in June 2012, for the homicide and dismemberment of Jeffery Wolfe over a drug debt.
william.moore@djournal.com