Death row inmate's lawyers slam Bible reference by prosecutor
Appeal filed on eve of scheduled Wednesday execution
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Lawyers for a man on Georgia's death row argued Monday that his life should be spared because the prosecutor suggested at trial that the Ten Commandments do not recognize insanity as a defense for murder.
Robert Karl Hicks' lawyers said in their clemency petition that jurors followed the prosecutor's instructions to apply divine law, and instead of reviewing the evidence they spent the early part of their deliberations in group prayer.
Hicks, 47, is set to die by injection Wednesday for stabbing 28-year-old Toni Strickland Rivers to death in 1985.
Hicks' lawyers asked the Georgia parole board to commute the death sentence or at least grant a 90-day stay to allow time for further consideration.
The board was expected to rule later Monday.
At Hicks' murder trial, a defense psychiatrist said he had a disorder that rendered him unable to control his impulses.
In their petition, Hicks' lawyers said prosecutor David Fowler told jurors that the Ten Commandments make no provision for mental illness.
"Does it say, `Thou shalt not kill, and be held accountable only if you know what you're doing?' No, it doesn't say that," the lawyers quoted the prosecutor as saying.
Fowler dismissed the argument, saying, "Obviously, when people are in desperate straits, they take desperate measures." He now works for a support group for prosecutors.
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