US man who raised questions about mental illness executed in Mississippi for robbery slayings The USA Times

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Friday, May 25, 2012

US man who raised questions about mental illness executed in Mississippi for robbery slayings

(AP Photo/Mississippi Department of Corrections, File)

PARCHMAN, Miss. - An inmate in the southern U.S. state of Mississippi has been put to death.

Edwin Hart Turner was put to death for killing two men in a December 1995 robbery spree after the courts declined to stop the execution based on arguments that he was mentally ill.

Authorities say the 38-year-old Turner received a lethal injection Wednesday and died at 6:21 p.m. for his conviction in the slayings of Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry during a pair of gas station holdups. The spree netted Turner and accomplice Paul Murrell Stewart about $400.

Stewart was 17 at the time and was sentenced to life in prison after testifying against Turner.

Turner's lawyers had unsuccessfully urged the courts to block the execution by arguing corrections officials prevented the inmate from getting medical tests that could prove he was mentally ill at the time.