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GEORGIA IS PREPARING to execute a death row inmate who shot a woman to death during a burglary in 1996 as his lawyers ask the US Supreme Court to consider arguments that a juror who imposed the sentence was motivated by racial bias.
Kenneth Fults is scheduled to die by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7pm tonight (1am Irish time) at the state prison in Jackson.
The 47-year-old inmate pleaded guilty in 1997 to killing his neighbour, 19-year-old Cathy Bounds, and a jury sentenced him to death.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles held a clemency hearing for Fults yesterday but declined to grant him clemency. The parole board is the only entity that can commute a death sentence in Georgia.
Killing
Prosecutors have said Fults killed Bounds during a weeklong crime spree that started when he stole two guns during burglaries. After trying unsuccessfully to kill his former girlfriend’s new boyfriend with one of the stolen guns, Fults broke into the trailer next to his, where Bounds lived with her boyfriend.
Bounds, who was home alone, pleaded for her life and offered him the rings on her fingers, but Fults forced her into the bedroom, wrapped electrical tape around her head, put her face-down on the bed, put a pillow over her head and shot her five times in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
Fults’ lawyers said in a clemency petition that their client had an extremely tough childhood characterised by abuse and neglect and an intellectual disability that keeps him from acting appropriately.
“Mr. Fults, the man, committed a terrible, tragic act when he killed Cathy Bounds,” they wrote.
But before the man existed, there was an innocent, vulnerable child in his place. And that child, Kenny, fell through the cracks.
Flaws in sentencing
They also pointed out what they said were flaws in his sentencing trial, including a juror they said was motivated by racial bias and a defence lawyer who fell asleep and failed to provide an adequate defence.
In their filing with the Supreme Court, Fults’ lawyers argue his death sentence is unconstitutional because one of the jurors who imposed it was motivated by racial prejudice.
During jury selection for Fults’ trial in 1997, juror Thomas Buffington, who was white, told the judge and lawyers on both sides that he felt no racial prejudice.
An investigator working with Fults’ lawyers eight years later spoke to Buffington about his jury service. Buffington, who was 79 at the time of the interview and has since died, twice used a racial slur when talking about Fults, who is black.
“Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that’s what that (N-word) deserved,” Buffington said, according to the signed, 12 April, 2005 affidavit in the court record.
The Telegraph’s Harriet Alexander, who is based in New York, reported yesterday that Fults has the reading age of a nine-year-old and his IQ puts him in the bottom 3% of the population.
‘Unfairly imposed’
State and federal courts have consistently declined to consider Fults’ argument that his sentence was unfairly imposed because of racial bias, mostly for procedural reasons that have to do with when the argument was first raised. The US Supreme court in October declined to take up the issue on appeal.
Now Fults’ lawyers are asking the high court to take the case directly, not as an appeal. They argue it is very similar to another case the court agreed last week to hear.
The state argued in a court filing yesterday that this case does not demonstrate the “exceptional circumstances” necessary for the Supreme Court to take it on directly.
Fults would be the fourth man executed in Georgia this year.
Another man, Daniel Lucas, is scheduled to die on 27 April.
Associated Press with reporting from Daragh Brophy.
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Bounds, who was home alone, pleaded for her life and offered him the rings on her fingers, but Fults forced her into the bedroom, wrapped electrical tape around her head, put her face-down on the bed, put a pillow over her head and shot her five times in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
Thats about as much of that as I need to read….
Cry me a river.
You don’t need to read like a 10yr old to own a gun in America!
His defence lawyer fell asleep….
You don’t need to read period to own a gun in America
It has just gone 1:00am, time’s up bitch. Goodbye and good riddance.
What a headline, ‘Man with reading age of a nine your old to be executed’.
Nearly felt sorry for him before I read he brutally murdered a girl by firing 5 bullets into her skull. Off with him, society doesn’t need men like him around!
Maybe society shouldn’t create people like this then.
Society doesn’t create people like that. There may be an argument had it been an accidental shooting (though if you bring a gun to a crime its never an excuse) during a robbery. They could pull the whole “its because of poverty he stole” or whatever. And to be honest, I’m not wholly unsympathetic to such a stance. But this guy murdered a girl in cold blood, for no other reason than he wanted to. So I concur with most people in having no sympathy for this monster at all
By not dealing with a person with intelligence of the bottom 3% and leaving him in poverty society does create somebody like this.
And therefore its societies fault???.. get a grip will ya..there is no excuse for his actions.. none whatsoever
Frank & Cabe if it was a nine year old being executed would you be happy to see that?
Dyslexia has nothing to do with mental capacity. He doesnt have the mind of a 9 old rather the reading age of a 9 year old there is a massive difference.
People really should look at context of a comment. Somebody said society doesn’t need somebody like this so I pointed out society’s part in the situation.
For somebody to then say they have no sympathy for this guy. Now think about that for a minute. Would you have sympathy for a person with learning difficulties being brought up in a rough poor area and left to fend for himself? Does that suddenly get eliminated ? Not every victim fits into the nice package of being nice and likeable
@Kerry Blake, Don’t be ridiculous please.. It has nothing to do with a 9 year old murdering someone just because he can’t read! Mental capacity and choosing not to go to school are not the same thing.
According to the article the man has an intellectual disability what’s that got to going to school?
Touche. Completely agree!
It’s creates excuses that’s for sure and that’s all they are. 9 year olds don’t wrap plastic bags around people , strangle them with cable and then shoot the victim 5 times in the back of the head at point blank range , while having the knowledge that a pillow would muffle the sound. If you believe that story about him being mentally aged 9 , you’ll believe anything.
He was sentenced because he committed murder not because of his lack of reading skills.
I am trying to improve my reading skills in the hope of avoiding prison. I do not have time to work.
Don’t see what his reading age has to do with anything.
He brutishly executed someone as part of a week long crime spree. I’m pretty ok with them carrying out his sentence. Should have happened before now though.
At least we know he won;t be reading the comments.
All the conspiracy theories in the world don’t add up to a hill of beans.
At the end of the day he murdered an innocent woman in cold blood.
Good riddance.
Conspiracy theories? Chem trails? Fluoride?
‘Conspiracy Theorist’, a term first coined to discredit anyone who questioned the Kennedy assassination and the officially held stance that a single gunman acting alone murdered JFK, so if you believe there was more than one assassin – you believe in a ‘conspiracy theory’ and are by corollary a ‘conspiracy theorist’.
His inability to read well will hardly be a factor for clemency. Using it as a hook to get people to read the story…. Now that is somewhat questionable.
I think it is in an effort to point out his mental capabilities if he does have the mental capabilities of a nine year old. Would you be happy to see a nine year old executed?
Reading capacity if a 9 year old only suggests has dyslexia. I no people who are extremely successful life who has dyslexia. Nothing to do with your mental capacity.
Kerry what the eff are you on bout. He’s a 43 year old man who knew what he was doing. I don’t know many 9 year olds who would do the same.
I should make it clear… I am in favour of the death sentence in certain cases.I am not a legal professional. I do however try to be as objective as one can be in situations like this,commenting on a forum. The lack of reading skills may or may not be an indication of mental capacity. Granted the legal system in the states is far from perfect, but I feel from what I have read,not just here but that which is available to read online and there is a lot to be honest. I think they are making the right call.I feel sorry in a detached way for his family and certainly feel for the family of the victim,but this guy is no fool and if you take the time to read some of what is written about this guy,you can be damn sure he is no fool .
Alan according to his legal team the man has intellectual disabilities……
Intellectual disabilities…. That is a sweeping statement in truth. He may well be academically challenged, that said,he appeared to be able to function socially at what could described as normal level. He appeared to lead an normal life ….like I said he was no fool. Alas there is no real measure of normalcy. There are literally millions of people who have had many encounters with the law who ended up leading productive lives. Many with academic issues associated with ,for the want of an expression, mental challenges. Life is tough and I have no doubt that you know this.Unfortunately it I not always fair. Five bullets through a pillow….. Is it conceivable he did not know what he was doing was wrong? He was smart enough to shoot the girl with the effect and effects thought through. That is planning. Like I said…. He was no fool.
Most 9 years know not to kill someone.
Most 9 year olds don’t have the ability but would kill somebody if the could without understanding it.
Kids have and do kill people once they have the ability.
@Kal – Maybe they do but they still know that it is morally wrong. Their conscience tells them so – although some individuals suppress their conscience by choice.
There is no way a nine year old would kill someone by shooting them 5 times in the back of the head while holding them face down. You can argue all you want about the appalling gun laws in the states leading to accidental deaths at the hands of children but this case is incomparable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bell
Do you think 2 years would make such a difference? Some would see her acts as worse than shooting somebody.
Put a pillow over her head and shot her five time in the back of the head…
So he’s not too bright and has a low IQ. Don’t see that in itself as a reason to commute the sentence or let him off. Though I’m an opponent of the death penalty. this prosecution case seems watery as he had already pled guilty.
Fine there may be legal argument that racism was involved and therefore it should be overturned, but morally, not so much.
Plenty of very smart people with low ‘reading ages’, meaningless descriptor used in the hope of engendering sympathy.
Having said that, he shouldn’t be executed. The death penalty is cruel and unusual torture. Life imprisonmemt is a severe punishment and cat least gives the illusion that we as a society are not dumb brutes who prefer revenge to justice.
His crime was horrific and if ever someone would swing me to be pro-death penalty, it would be a cold calculating and violent killer like this. But we have to be civilised. Execution helps no one but the vengeful.
He has an intellectual learning disability not just poor reading ability.
Then put down ‘Intellectual disability’. My point is that ‘Reading Age of 9′ was used because at first glance it gives the impression that he has the mind of a 9 year old and sounds far more dramatic than intellectual disabillity.
There is a headline and then there details in the story putting his intelligence in the bottom 3% of the population. Did you just not read the detail?
Did you not avoid getting dropped on your head as a baby? Moron.
I’m sure his victim doesn’t care if he can complete mobs dick or not
The death sentence is barbaric and pointless. Throw him into jail for at least 40 years.
Of more concern is the fact that a man with the intellectual ability of a six year old is running for president.
@Ironballs – are you referring to Hillary or Sanders?
Might check out your own reading level the dude, because he did specifically state a man; and no need to come back with a smartass gender remark, it won’t change a thing.
Whatever your feelings on the death penalty, and I’m against it, not being able to read is not really a defence. I know a few functioning illiterate people and I’m pretty sure that none would commit murder. Its also quite possible that literacy as my generation knows it won’t exist in 50 years. Even I’m beginning to have problems reading handwritten script thanks to nearly always reading type be that on a screen or on a page.
It sounds like a horrific crime in fairness, but would you sentence a 9yr old to death?
Having an intellectual disability that stops you acting appropriately is one thing.
Having an intellectual disability that sends you on a 5 day crime spree, including a failed attempt at killing one person with clear premeditated motive, and actually murdering your neighbor in cold blood, is something quite different, particularly when there was no hint of any sort of recorded diagnosis beforehand…
Hopefully the screams of his victim are the last thing he hears before the lights go out.
his reading skills or lack of them are irrelevent here.He did what he did, and deserves punishment.
However the death penalty activists might take note that despite having the highest execution rate (by a long margin) of any democracy the USA aslo has a murder rate about 5 times that of most European democracies, none of whom have a death penalty.
I can only conclude that executing people does not act as a deterrent to murder and only serves here as a kind of vengance.
It also costs more then jailing someone for life.
Ridiculous headline.
And the comments are merely a reaction to it rather than addressing the real issue which is the barbarity of the death penalty.
Society is better off without this type of person being around.
Why do they wait that long to carry out his death sentence. That’s the cruelty of this crime
Nah, the cruelty of this crime was shooting an innocent 19 year old who was begging and pleading for her life 5 times in the head.
,
Cabbage or no cabbage he deserves to be put to death I tells ya!
He apparently didn’t let his inabilty to read hold him back, when it came to his spree of robbery and murder which led to his conviction. The 19 year old woman he killed was the victim in this crime not him.
He has the intelligence of a 9year old really? Dont buy that for 1 minute! Took some planning
“Reading ability of 9 year old”; no mention of intellectual ability or IQ.
From the headline you might think he was being executed for having the reading age of a nine year old,
@Rosa, you mean American justice. 1)his defense lawyer fell asleep during the hearing.2)a juror displayed race bias twice after death sentencing 3) someone with an iq in the lowest 3% of the population does not possess the power or the capability of reflective thought. Actions are actions but the enormity of what he did would be lost to him. Awful outcome and this action will not bring the girls life back. Futile in all aspects.
The death penalty is a barbaric action of perverse peoples without dignity. If you support the state killing people you are frankly not much above the act of murder in the first place.
I always make allowances for unfortunates with IQs less than 190.
They were born thick.
They cannot help but being thick.
A cat cannot understand General Relativity.
P.S.
I didn’t mean to accuse my beloved little cat of being stupid.
Most of my human friends cannot understand General Relativity either.
General Relativity, he was a character in M*A*S*H wasn’t he?
Yeah was he not the corporal?
There’s no suggestion he’s innocent. Let justice take its course
I presume the last meal shall be a Happy Meal!
Jesús he looks a lot younger than 47
Correction. * Did look a lot younger than 47
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