A federal public defender has filed a request for a preliminary injunction to stop the Oct. 21 execution of Arkansas inmate Bruce Earl Ward.
The injunction request filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court earlier this week claims that Ward is suffering from schizophrenia and has been little help to his defense attorneys. The request was in a lawsuit filed against Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley.
Ward's attorney alleges Kelley did not allow Ward's previous defense access to needed evidence to challenge his competency, has an interest in declaring Ward competent to be executed and shouldn't be given the last say on his competency.
Ward's execution would be the first in Arkansas in nearly a decade. The Department of Correction didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
