An Alabama judge has halted the scheduled execution of David Lee Roberts to determine whether the death row inmate is mentally competent to face execution.
Roberts was slated to be put to death on August 21 using nitrogen hypoxia, a new method the state adopted in 2024. But on July 10, Marion County Circuit Judge Talmage Lee Carter issued a stay, ordering that the execution be delayed until mental health experts can assess whether Roberts understands the nature and purpose of his punishment.
“The issue is whether [the petitioner’s] concept of reality is so impaired that he cannot grasp the execution’s meaning and the purpose or the link between his crime and its punishment,” Carter wrote.
The Alabama Department of Mental Health will conduct the evaluation, though a timeline for its completion has not been provided.
Roberts was convicted in 1992 for the murder of Annetra Jones, who was shot three times in the head while sleeping on a couch.
Prosecutors said Roberts, then a guest in the home of Jones’ boyfriend, stole money, set the house on fire using a flammable liquid and fled. Although the jury recommended life in prison without parole by a vote of 7 to 5, a judge overrode the verdict and sentenced him to death. Alabama has since outlawed judicial override in capital cases.
Roberts’ attorneys argue he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, experiences auditory hallucinations and holds delusional beliefs that interfere with his grasp on reality.
They cited an incident in which Roberts reportedly tried to burn tattoos off his arms and legs because he believed they were controlling his thoughts.
“This evidence demonstrates Mr. Roberts is incompetent to be executed because his delusions prevent him from having a factual or rational understanding of the reason,” his legal team wrote in a filing.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office has not challenged the stay; instead, it has requested that the evaluation be expedited.
This marks the latest in a series of court interventions over execution protocols in Alabama.
In 2022, the state postponed the execution of Alan Eugene Miller just days before his scheduled death by nitrogen gas, following unresolved legal challenges and questions about the protocol’s humaneness and transparency. That execution was later rescheduled after a federal judge allowed it to proceed.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that executing individuals who are insane or lack understanding of their punishment violates constitutional protections. Alabama lacks a clearly defined legal standard for determining execution competency.
