Lawton, OK — In the ongoing legal saga surrounding the death penalty case of Ricky Ray Malone, the Oklahoma Attorney General has filed a motion to reevaluate the inmate’s mental competency in order to proceed with his execution. This move comes days after Malone’s attorney, Robert S. Jackson, filed a formal objection in Comanche County District Court, arguing that Malone remains mentally incompetent, as initially determined in 2017.
Malone, convicted of the 2003 execution-style killing of Oklahoma State Trooper Nicholas Dees, was found to be incompetent to stand trial in October 2017. At that time, he was transferred to the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita for further evaluation and treatment. The latest development stems from a 2022 evaluation conducted by Dr. Satwant Tandon, a licensed forensic psychologist, who concluded that Malone’s mental state had not improved since the 2017 ruling.
In his objection, Jackson maintains that Malone’s condition remains unchanged, thus raising serious questions about whether he can be subjected to execution under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, executing individuals who are deemed mentally incompetent is unconstitutional because they do not understand the nature of their punishment or why it is being carried out.
Malone’s case has sparked a larger conversation about the intersection of mental health and the death penalty. His defense team asserts that Malone’s ongoing mental health issues, including significant cognitive impairments, disqualify him from facing execution. On the other hand, the state’s motion, filed by Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office, seeks to move forward with the execution, arguing that Malone’s competency should be reassessed.
The back-and-forth legal filings underscore the complexities of the case, which has dragged on for years due to concerns about Malone’s mental state. It also highlights broader debates surrounding the death penalty in Oklahoma, a state with one of the highest execution rates in the U.S. The outcome of this particular motion could have wider implications for how the state handles death penalty cases involving inmates with serious mental health issues.
As the case progresses, Malone’s fate remains uncertain, with further legal challenges likely to unfold in the coming months. For now, the courts will have to decide whether Malone is mentally competent to be executed or if his execution should be postponed indefinitely due to his ongoing mental health concerns.
