A person under sentence of death shall not be executed when it is determined under the provisions of this article that the person is mentally incompetent to be executed as defined in Code Section 17-10-60.
(Code 1981, §17-10-61, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 1003, § 2.)
Law reviews.- For note, "Ford v. Wainwright: Eighth Amendment Prohibits Execution of the Insane," see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 949 (1987).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Instructions to physician regarding insanity of one convicted of a capital felony.
- In view of the fact that the inquiry under former Code 1933, § 27-2602 (see O.C.G.A. § 17-10-61) was directed to the alleged insanity occurring subsequent to the conviction, the definitions of insanity in former Code 1933, §§ 26-702 and 26-703 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 16-3-2 and16-3-3) were inapplicable and should not be given in written instructions to physicians appointed pursuant to former Code 1933, § 27-2602. Those instructions should inform the physicians that the issue was the present sanity of the individual and should be determined on the basis of whether the individual is capable of presently understanding the nature and object of the proceedings going on against the individual and rightly comprehends the individual's own condition in reference to such proceedings, and was capable of rendering the individual's attorneys such assistance as a proper defense to the proceedings preferred against the individual demands. Since the basic issue is the individual's sanity at a time subsequent to conviction, or, in effect, the individual's present sanity, the appropriate test should be that as employed upon a special plea of insanity under former Code 1933, § 27-1502 (see O.C.G.A. § 17-7-130). 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-123.
RESEARCH REFERENCES
ALR.
- Propriety of carrying out death sentences against mentally ill individuals, 111 A.L.R.5th 491.