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…