NASHVILLE – The state is requesting an execution date for Billy Ray Irick.
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.