Court clears way for federal execution of man with dementia
By MICHAEL BALSAMO and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for a second federal execution this week. The vote to allow the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey was 5-4 , with the court’s four liberal members dissenting in the decision early Thursday. Purkey is said to be suffering from dementia. His execution had originally been scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Purkey was convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl in Kansas City, Missouri, before dismembering her body. Lawyers for the 68-year-old Kansas man argue he has dementia and is unfit to be executed. They said he doesn’t understand why he was being executed.