LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' attorney general is asking the state's highest court to reconsider its decisions striking down a law that gave the state's prison director authority to determine whether an inmate is mentally competent to be executed.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Monday petitioned for a rehearing and asked the state Supreme Court to vacate its rulings in favor of two death row inmates who were spared from execution last year.
Justices earlier this month ruled that the competency law violated due process rights guaranteed in the Arkansas and U.S. Constitutions.
Convicted murderers Bruce Ward and Jack Greene were granted stays last year so the court could hear their case. Rutledge on Monday argued that the competency law can be applied in a way that is constitutional.
