552.060. Mental disease or defect upon sentence to death.
Mental disease or defect upon sentence to death.
552.060. 1. No person condemned to death shall be executedif as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks capacity tounderstand the nature and purpose of the punishment about to beimposed upon him or matters in extenuation, arguments forexecutive clemency or reasons why the sentence should not becarried out.
2. If the director of the department of corrections hasreasonable cause to believe that any inmate then in confinementin a correctional facility and sentenced to death has a mentaldisease or defect excluding fitness for execution, he shallimmediately notify the governor who shall forthwith order a stayof execution of the sentence if there is not sufficient timebetween such notification and time of execution for adetermination of the mental condition of such person to be madein accordance with the provisions of this section without suchstay. The director shall also, as soon as reasonably possible,notify the director of the department of mental health and theprosecuting or circuit attorney of the county where the defendantwas tried, the attorney general and the circuit court of thecounty where the correctional facility is located.
3. As soon as reasonably possible, after the notificationprescribed in subsection 2 of this section, the circuit court ofthe county shall conduct an inquiry into the mental condition ofthe offender after first granting any of the parties entitled tonotification an examination by a physician of their own choosingon proper application made within five days of such notification.
4. If the court, after such inquiry, certifies to thegovernor and to the director that the prisoner does not have amental disease or defect of the type referred to in subsection 1of this section, the governor shall fix a new date for theexecution, if a stay of execution had previously been made, andshall issue a warrant for the new execution date to the chiefadministrative officer of the correctional facility, who shallthen proceed with the execution as ordered. If the court, aftersuch inquiry, certifies to the governor and to the director thatthe prisoner has a mental disease or defect of the type referredto in subsection 1 of this section, the offender shall not beexecuted but shall be held in the correctional facility subjectto transfer to a mental hospital and further proceedings undersection 552.050 if the provisions of section 552.050 areapplicable. If any offender who has not been executed because ofany certification by the director as herein provided isthereafter certified by the director as free of a mental diseaseor defect of the type referred to in subsection 1 of thissection, the governor shall fix a new date for the execution andshall issue a warrant for the new execution date to the chiefadministrative officer of the correctional facility, who shallthen take charge and custody of the offender and proceed with theexecution as ordered in the warrant.
5. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit thegovernor or any court in the exercise of any of their powers inany other manner under the law or Constitution of Missouri.
(L. 1963 p. 674 § 6, A.L. 1989 H.B. 408)