Arkansas Death Row Inmate Calls Himself 'Totally Competent' for Upcoming Execution

"They started making me out to be a total idiot and retard from day one."

The oldest Arkansas death row inmate and his victim's family agreed on one thing Wednesday: Jack Greene is "totally competent" for his upcoming execution.

However, Greene's attorneys have argued he is too mentally ill to legally be put to death.

Now the decision is in the hands of the Arkansas Parole Board, who will send its recommendation to Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the next 72 hours.

"I've been jacked up like this for 12 out of the last 13 years," Greene told the board during his clemency hearing at the Varner Unit Wednesday morning.

Instead of sitting in a chair next to his attorney, the 62 year old stood for the entire hour and a half, breathing heavy, contorting his body in pain and leaning against the table in front of them. He frequently touched his left ear and nose, which were both clogged with tissue.

"They [attorneys] started making me out to be a total idiot and retard from day one," he said. "I am totally competent to be executed. This is not a competency hearing. It's a clemency hearing."

Greene's attorney, John Williams, was on a different page, arguing conspiracy theories dominate his client's thoughts so much that he does not understand the world or his scheduled Nov. 9 execution.

"I want to object verbally to everything this attorney is saying," Greene interrupted.

A forensic psychologist, Dr. Dale G. Watson, told the board he has never seen anyone as delusional as Greene.

"I believe him to be psychotic," Watson said. "His pain could be a physical hallucination."

Dr. Watson explained he examined Greene first in 2009. When he returned to Arkansas for further examinations in 2011 and 2015, Greene refused to see him.

The next time they saw each other was at a competency hearing when Dr. Watson said Greene was "doing headstands literally in court."

Greene also interrupted Dr. Watson, calling him a "nut doctor." He argued he has never received the proper medical treatment for his sharp ear pain and brain and back injuries.

"I have been tortured nearly to death," he said. "It's by the grace of God and sheer will that I've lived this long."

Greene was sentenced to death for the murder of 69-year-old Sidney Burnett, a husband, father, WWII Air Force veteran and preacher from Johnson County.

"I knew what I was doing to him," he said. "I couldn't stand what I was doing to him. And I put the gun to his head and killed him."

"He brutally murdered my father," Carolyn Walker, who came in from Indiana, told the parole board Wednesday afternoon. "He shot him, stabbed him and cut him from his mouth to his ear. Jack Greene has no integrity, no morals, no respect for life and no remorse."

Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons said Greene inflicted injury on Burnett for the sole purpose of torture and mental anguish.

"I am not opposed to the death penalty," Gibbons told the board. "But I think it should be reserved for the worst of the worst. This case presents the worst of the worst."

Burnett's daughters said their dad gave Greene money, a job, even a place to stay.

"He treated him like family," said Irene Burton. "Dad gave him life. What did he give my dad?"

Their torture continues 26 years later.

"This really hits me today," said Linda Miller, who came in from Michigan. "It hits me because I am now the age that my dad was when he was cruelly taken away from us. It invaded our emotions, our souls and stole more from us than you could even imagine. I still weep when I think of the torture dad was put through and I wonder what his thoughts were, what his last words were. I will not know. I'll never know."

An act of murder Burnett's daughters will never blame on Greene's mental state.

"Jack is doing this because he fears death," Burton said. "I believe that with my whole heart. I don't believe he's mental. He, to me, his whole life has manipulated people. If he could not get his way, he took revenge. He threw a fit like a little child."

Burton read a message to Greene from her mother, Edna:

"I hope Jack repents so that he doesn't burn in Hell. He needs to be dead so this never happens again. No one, not our family or even Donna Johnson, his girlfriend, can find peace until he is dead."

"These are good, God-fearing Christian people," Greene said. "None of this should have ever happened. What I did was horrible. What I did to Mr. Burnett was horrible. What I did to my own brother was horrible, too."

Greene also killed his brother in North Carolina before moving to Arkansas.

"It wasn't out of hate but hurt," he told the board. "I swore upon my mother's grave that I would kill Tommy and anyone else for letting her die."

The parole board asked him if he wants clemency.

For Greene, it came down to 2 options. If he can go back to a North Carolina prison for medical treatment, he will take clemency. If not, he will see them Nov. 9.

Source: arkansasmatters.com, October 6, 2017

Arkansas judge barred from execution cases sues high court

Judge Griffen strapped to a cot outside the governor's mansion on April 14.

An Arkansas judge who was barred from considering any execution-related cases after blocking the use of a lethal injection drug and participating in an anti-death penalty demonstration is suing the state's highest court, saying justices violated his constitutional rights.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Thursday filed a lawsuit in federal court against the 7 members of the state Supreme Court who disqualified him.

"Judge Griffen has been materially harmed by the loss of prestige, job satisfaction, and job duties suffered as a result of the Arkansas Supreme Court's Order, by virtue of being barred and disqualified, forever, from hearing the most serious cases a judge can hear in Arkansas," attorneys for the judge said in the lawsuit.

Though photographs of Griffen strapped to a cot outside the governor's mansion April 14 evoked images of a condemned inmate awaiting lethal injection, the judge has said he was portraying Jesus and participating in a Good Friday vigil with his church. The judge, who is also a Baptist pastor, wore an anti-death penalty button and was surrounded by people holding signs opposing executions.

Griffen's lawsuit argues that the disqualification violated his constitutional rights to free speech and exercise of religion, and said the move broke a 2015 state religious objections law. The state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission is investigating a complaint against Griffen over the demonstration, along with a complaint the judge filed against the court over the disqualification. Griffen has asked the commission to dismiss the complaint against him, a request he renewed last week.

Earlier, on the same day as the demonstration, Griffen had issued an order blocking Arkansas from using vecuronium bromide in lethal injections. McKesson Corp. had sought the temporary order, saying it was misled by Arkansas that the vecuronium bromide sold to the state would be used for inmate care. The Supreme Court later lifted that order and barred Griffen from hearing any death penalty cases.

Another judge later assigned the case also blocked the drug's use. The state Supreme Court also lifted that order, allowing Arkansas to execute 4 inmates over an 8-day period in April.

The lawsuit over the company's claims is still pending before the state Supreme Court.

Arkansas is set to execute another inmate on Nov. 9.

Source: The Republic, October 6, 2017

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