LITTLE ROCK (KFSM) — The Arkansas Parole Board voted unanimously Wednesday (Oct. 4) to deny clemency to death row inmate Jack Greene.
Greene was convicted of capital murder for killing Johnson County resident Sidney Jethro Burnett in 1991. At the time, Greene was wanted as a person of interest in the murder of his brother in North Carolina.
The board voted 6-0 in deciding Greene’s request was without merit. The board cited the grisly nature of Greene’s crimes and said his sentence wasn’t excessive.
Greene is scheduled to be executed Nov. 9.
Governor Asa Hutchinson can still use his executive power to grant Greene clemency, as the board’s vote serves only as a recommendation.
Greene’s lawyers argued he wouldn’t understand why he is being executed because of his mental illness and being sexually abused as a child. They also said Greene’s family has a history of mental illness.
“Despite the parole board’s vote, two highly experienced mental-health experts who have examined Greene agree that he is a man with severe mental illness,” said Scott Braden, an attorney for Greene. “An execution of that nature would not be humane and it would not serve the purposes of punishment. It would merely be a miserable spectacle.
“As we continue to seek a competency hearing in the courts so that Mr. Greene may prove he is incompetent and that his execution would be unconstitutional, we respectfully ask the Governor to grant clemency in this unique case.”
Lawyers for the state said that Burnett’s family deserves justice
In August, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Greene had exhausted all of his appeals and requested Hutchinson set an execution date.
