In Walton v. Johnson, Chief Judge Wilson of the W.D. Va. denied the petition of death row inmate Percy Walton, whose lawyers claimed he is not competent to be executed by the Commonwealth.
In a second opinion, Chief Judge Wilson required the respondent to show cause why costs should not be imposed against him, because of the inadequacy of state law procedures to assess the competence of inmates like Walton.
The Roanoke Times has this story ("Judge finds Va. lacking in procedures to review inmate's mental competence," 3/5/04) on the case.
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