Abdul Awkal

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Ohio top court delays killer's Wednesday execution

The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday delayed a condemned inmate's execution following a judge's ruling that the inmate is too mentally ill to be put to death.

The court's decision means Abdul Awkal is now months or even years away from execution after coming within a few hours of dying by lethal injection June 6. He was sentenced to die for the 1992 killing of his estranged wife and brother-in-law.

The execution was set for Wednesday.

The court's unanimous decision said it maintained exclusive authority to set a new execution date.

More;
www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120618/us-death-penalty-ohio/

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Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely postpones execution of Abdul Awkal

www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/06/ohio_supreme_court_indefinitel.html

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Ohio Court Says Executing Severely Mentally Ill Man Is Unconstitutional

thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/18/499934/ohio-court-says-executing-severely-mentally-ill-man-is-unconstitutional/

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Letters From Death Row: Abdul Awkal, Who Was Supposed to Die Last Week

gawker.com/5917387/letters-from-death-row-abdul-awkal-who-was-supposed-to-die-last-week

Within the above post is this link;
www.deathrow-usa.com/AbdulAwkalOH.htm

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Really, They Should Have Wanted To Know

gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2012/06/really-they-should-have-wanted-to-know.html

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Fit to Live
How Ohio death row inmate Abdul Awkal was saved from execution

Ohio death row inmate Abdul Awkal wasn’t trying to avoid his execution. He just wanted his meals prepared according to his Muslim faith.

Awkal contacted attorney David Singleton in 2010 asking for the assistance of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center (OJPC), a Cincinnati non-profit that works to protect the rights of Ohio inmates and reform the criminal justice system. Singleton, executive director of OJPC, says Awkal wanted his food prepared in accordance with Halal, which is the Muslim counterpart to Kosher food preparation. Kosher meals were already being prepared for Jewish inmates, so it was a matter of parity and protecting Awkal’s civil rights.

Part of what the OJPC and Singleton, who is also an assistant professor at Chase College of Law, do is give Chase students the opportunity to handle civil rights cases for prisoners. This is how OJPC, which has never before worked on a death penalty case, became involved. When Singleton went to the prison in Chillicothe to meet Awkal, his visit was initially refused. Awkal thought Singleton was one of his death penalty case lawyers.

“He had no interest in meeting with them,” Singleton says. “He wanted to die.”

More;
www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-25750-fit_to_live.html