ATLANTA (AP) – A Georgia death-row inmate scheduled for execution Wednesday said he doesn’t really want to die but hasn’t pursued appeals because he also doesn’t want to continue living in prison, according to a psychiatric evaluation report.
Steven Frederick Spears does not meet any criteria for mental illness and has the capacity to understand his situation and to make a rational choice to decline to pursue legal challenges to his impending execution, Dr. Matthew Norman, an expert selected by the state, wrote after evaluating Spears on Tuesday.
Lawyer Brian Kammer, executive director of the Georgia Resource Center, which works on behalf of death-row inmates, said at a hearing Wednesday that state attorneys had assured him if Spears changes his mind, the execution will be halted and Spears will be allowed to contact lawyers who will initiate post-conviction proceedings.
Spears, 54, was convicted in the August 2001 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Sherri Holland, at her home in Dahlonega, about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.
A Georgia Supreme Court summary of the case says Spears killed Holland because he suspected she had been romantically involved with someone else. Spears came up with four separate plans for her death and ultimately killed her by choking her, wrapping tape around her mouth and face and putting a plastic bag over her head, the summary says.