Stay of execution lifted for Ohio inmate

5/17/2011

COLUMBUS — A defense lawyer an Ohio inmate who says he can’t recall the double slaying he was convicted of will be executed as scheduled.

The lawyer, Al Gerhardstein, says the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati lifted a stay of execution late Monday in the case of 63-year-old Daniel Lee Bedford, who is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday.

Prosecutors had appealed a federal judge’s decision earlier Monday to halt the execution. Bedford’s attorneys had sought more time for the courts to consider issues they raised.

Beford has been convicted in the 1984 shootings of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. His lawyers say he has dementia and a mental disability that keep him from fully understanding his death sentence.

Mr. Gerhardstein says he is preparing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the stay.