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Thread: Billy Ray Irick - Tennessee Execution - August 9, 2018

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    Billy Ray Irick - Tennessee Execution - August 9, 2018






    Summary of Offense:

    In April 1985, he raped and strangled Paula Kay Dyer, a seven-year-old Knox County girl.

    Irick was denied a Certificate of Appealabilty by the US Sixth Circuit of Appeals on May 12, 2009. Background of the case is contained in the opinion.

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions...9a0168p-06.pdf

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    Tenn. requests execution date for Billy Ray Irick, attorney says inmate is mentally ill

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The state is requesting an execution date for Billy Ray Irick (EYE'-rik).

    The 51-year-old death row inmate was convicted of first degree murder in the 1985 rape and slaying of a 7-year-old Knoxville girl he had been baby sitting.

    A motion filed in court late Monday by state Attorney General Bob Cooper says Irick has completed the standard three-tier appeals process.

    Irick's court-appointed federal habeas corpus attorney, Howell Clements, said he plans to file a response requesting the Tennessee Supreme Court not set an execution date. Clements said his client is incompetent to be executed because of a long-standing mental illness.

    http://www.wreg.com/news/sns-ap-tn--...0,108266.story

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    Execution date set per Tennessee Supreme Court order.

    Order is here:

    http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/...ion%20Date.pdf

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    Irick gets execution date, competency hearing

    The state Supreme Court has set a Dec. 7 execution date for Billy Ray Irick.

    Irick was convicted of raping and killing a 7-year-old Knoxville girl he had been baby-sitting in 1985.

    The court rejected an appeal from Irick's attorneys to issue a certificate of commutation. They had argued he was insane at the time of the crime.

    In support, they introduced affidavits from the victim's stepfamily recounting Irick's bizarre behavior in the days before the slaying. That includes Irick chasing a girl he did not know down the street with a machete because he "didn't like her looks" and telling people he was "taking instructions from the devil."

    While setting an execution date, the court also ordered a hearing in the Knox County Criminal Court to determine whether Irick is competent to be executed. Those proceedings must conclude within 55 days.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Supreme Court denies convicted child killer's request to put off execution

    The state Supreme Court has denied a child killer's request to put off his execution date.

    Billy Ray Irick was convicted for the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer in Knoxville.

    He was babysitting the girl, while her mother was at work.

    On Friday, the state's high court said his execution should go on as scheduled, on December 7th.

    The state Supreme Court has set a Dec. 7 execution date for Billy Ray Irick.

    Irick was convicted of raping and killing a 7-year-old Knoxville girl he had been baby-sitting in 1985.

    The court rejected an appeal from Irick's attorneys to issue a certificate of commutation. They had argued he was insane at the time of the crime.

    In support, they introduced affidavits from the victim's stepfamily recounting Irick's bizarre behavior in the days before the slaying. That includes Irick chasing a girl he did not know down the street with a machete because he "didn't like her looks" and telling people he was "taking instructions from the devil."

    While setting an execution date, the court also ordered a hearing in the Knox County Criminal Court to determine whether Irick is competent to be executed. Those proceedings must conclude within 55 days.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Knox County man on death row now says he was framed ---- Billy Ray Irick confessed to killing; defense claims psychosis

    Billy Ray Irick, on death row for rape and murder, was in Knox County Criminal Court on Monday.

    While his defense team insists he was psychotic when he raped and strangled a 7-year-old Knox County girl more than a quarter century ago, convicted killer Billy Ray Irick contends he was framed.

    In the 2nd day of a last-ditch hearing to avoid execution for the April 1985 slaying of Paula Kay Dyer, a clinical psychologist who evaluated Irick this weekend revealed that Irick is now blaming Paula's stepfather for her death.

    That contention comes despite his decades-old confession to the crime and his own defense team's recent push to show that Irick was in the midst of a psychotic break when he killed Paula and has no real memory of the actions for which he now faces execution Dec. 7.

    Clinical psychologist Bruce Seidner testified Tuesday before Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner that Irick is now denying responsibility for the rape and murder and instead is blaming then-stepfather Kenneth Jeffers.

    "He felt the stepfather was somewhat involved in this," Seidner testified. "He feels like there was no objective motivation for him, but there was tremendous objective motivation for this stepfather."

    Prior court hearings show that Irick had been living with Kenneth Jeffers' mother in the days before Paula's death but was kicked out when he grew violent. Jeffers then allowed Irick to stay at the home he shared with wife Kathy Jeffers and her children, including Paula.

    On the night of Paula's death, Kathy Jeffers was headed to work but grew concerned about leaving Irick with her children because he was drinking and showing signs of anger at her in-laws over being kicked out of their home. Court records show she phoned Kenneth Jeffers and asked him to take over baby-sitting duties from Irick.

    He dallied, however, insisting the children were fine in Irick's care. Soon after, Kenneth Jeffers received an urgent call from Irick that Paula was in peril, court records show. Jeffers returned to the home to discover Paula raped and strangled, according to appellate court records.

    Irick confessed, and a year later was sentenced to death. Having lost all state and federal appeals, he is now trying to convince Baumgartner he is too psychotic to be executed.

    Seidner testified Tuesday that Irick is fully aware of what he was convicted of and why he is on death row.

    "He feels like (his current defense team) is doing everything they can, and he trusts they're working on his behalf," Seidner said.

    Baumgartner said he would rule in more than five days. Whatever he opines, an appeal is expected, making it unlikely Irick will actually face execution this year.

    http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/au...he-was-framed/

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    On September 22, 2010, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the District Court ruling that Irick is competent to be executed.

    Opinon is here:

    http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/...ay%20Irick.pdf

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    Man convicted of killing Knoxville child back in court weeks before execution

    Attorneys for a man convicted of killing a Knoxville girl more than 2 decades ago were back in court Friday to put up a last-minute fight for their client, a month before he is scheduled to die.

    Billy Ray Irick, 52, was convicted of raping and killing Paula Dyer at her home on Aug. 15, 1985. Irick had been staying with Dyer's family and was babysitting the little girl on that day while her mother was at work.

    Although Irick has a history of mental illness, he has been deemed competent to stand trial and to be executed, despite several appeals.

    Most recently, on Aug. 13, the state Supreme Court denied Irick's request to put off his execution date.

    In court on Friday, Irick's attorneys, C. Eugene Shiles and Howell Clements, argued in support of the writ of error coram nobis they recently filed. That filing asks the court to consider evidence that did not come up at trial that could have changed the outcome of the trial.

    Irick's attorneys are asking to introduce statements from the Dyer family, including those from her stepfather, Kenneth Jeffers, which detail bizarre behavior from Irick near the time of Dyer's death.

    The statements suggest that Irick was hearing and responding to voices he was hearing. He also reportedly chased a young girl with a machete down a Knoxville street because he "didn't like her looks."

    Irick's attorneys say, while those statements did come to light back in 1999, they never introduced them during the trial because they did not the opinions and reports from medical professionals, which they felt would be needed to support those statements.

    They added that, if that evidence had been introduced, it could have changed the outcome of the trial.

    However, prosecutor Leland Price said that the statute of limitations has run out for that evidence.

    He further argued that the statements would not have changed the outcome of the trial, given that Irick's mental state has been long discussed, and for each legal hurdle, he has been deemed competent.

    Judge Richard Baumgartner said he plans to rule on the matter by early next week.

    Meanwhile, Irick is said to be executed on Dec. 7.

    (Source: WBIR News)

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    State Supreme Court halts Tuesday night execution, three others

    The Tennessee Supreme Court has halted the execution of Stephen Michael West and three other death row inmates, saying that West hasn't had ample time to respond to new lethal injection procedures instituted by the state.

    West, who was scheduled to die at 10 p.m. Tuesday, had successfully challenged the state's lethal injection procedures by arguing that the state couldn't prove that inmates were rendered unconscious before they were given a fatal mixture that paralyzes and then suffocates.

    The state, in response, said it would have a warden brush the inmates eyelashes, shake him and call out his name to check to see if they were unconscious.

    Though the Supreme Court accepted the state's new protocols, West's attorneys argued in court documents that determining consciousness is far more complicated than simply shaking someone or calling out their name. Monday's stay of execution allows West to further challenge the procedures in court.

    The stay also affects death row inmates Billy Ray Irick, Edward Harbison and Edmund Zagorski.

    http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...tion-3-others-

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    Irick's habeas petition was denied by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in today's orders.

    Opinion here

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