An Oklahoma death row inmate who killed a bank guard is unfit for execution, judge says

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge has ruled that a death row inmate is incompetent to execute after the prisoner received psychological evaluations from both defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Pittsburg County District Judge Tim Mills wrote Thursday that both psychologists found Wade Greely Lay, 63, lacked a “rational understanding” of why he should be executed.

“Given Mr. Lay’s current incompetence, the court concludes that Mr. Lay may not be executed at this time,” Mills wrote in an order signed by defense attorneys and state and local prosecutors.

Under Oklahoma law, an inmate is mentally incompetent to be executed if he is unable to rationally understand the reason for his execution or that his execution is imminent.

Defense attorney Callie Heller said the verdict was a relief.

“Wade firmly believes that his execution is part of a broader government conspiracy aimed at silencing him,” Heller said in a statement.

Mills ordered that Lay undergo mental health treatment to restore his sanity, which Heller said was unlikely.

“Given the duration and severity of Mr. Lay’s mental illness and his deterioration in recent years, it is unlikely that he will be competent in the future,” Heller said.

Heller said prosecutors are expected to request a formal stay of execution.

A spokesman for Attorney General Gentner Drummond did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Lay, who represented himself in court, was sentenced to death for the May 2004 shooting of a bank guard as he and his then-19-year-old son attempted to rob a Tulsa bank.

His son Christopher Lay was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the attempted robbery.

Thursday’s ruling marks the second time this year that a court has found an Oklahoma death row inmate mentally unfit to be executed.

In March, a separate judge ruled that the state could not execute 61-year-old James Ryder for his role in the 1999 murders of a mother and her adult son.

In April, Oklahoma executed Michael Dewayne Smith for the 2002 shooting deaths of two women.

Smith was the first person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 12th to be put to death since the state resumed executions in 2021 after a nearly seven-year hiatus due to execution problems in 2014 and 2015.

Drummond, the attorney general, has asked the Oklahoma Court of Appeals to set execution dates for five more condemned inmates, starting 90 days after Lay’s scheduled execution.