Written by Amanda Dove. For more information about capital punishment in the state of Ohio, please visit the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction website. Please consult our Maryland criminal lawyer and Virginia criminal attorney sites for more information or to schedule a free consultation.
Although some couples remain friends after a divorce, sometimes the wounds from a contentious negotiation are simply too deep to overcome. A divorce is something that most people strive to avoid, but rarely does anyone go as far as Abdul Awkal did; and his case has become the center of some fairly interesting decisions regarding the death penalty. In January of 1992, Abdul Awkal took messy divorce battles to a new level. Just as his estranged wife, Latife Awkal, and his brother-in-law, Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz, were about to raise divorce and custody disputes against him, Abdul Awkal slayed them in the basement of the Cleveland courtroom where the hearing was to be held.
Shortly thereafter, the court convicted him for murder and sentenced him to death by lethal injection. Over twenty years later, Awkal was granted a stay on his execution at the last minute when the Ohio Supreme Court made a unanimous decision to indefinitely postpone it following a ruling on the subject by a lower court. Since the court maintains exclusive authority to reset the execution date, Awkal might not face execution for a while. It could be delayed for years, according to one of Awkal’s attorneys, because the state has executions scheduled through January 2014.
After the two week reprieve from Governor John Kasich, Judge Stuart Friedman of Cuyahoga County declared that Awkal is too mentally ill to be put to death. Friedman defends his decision by citing the fact that Awkal believes the CIA is to blame for his death sentence. Awkal told five mental health professionals that he has been working with the agency to fight the war on terrorism and now they are coordinating his execution because they are upset with him for “knowing too much”. All five doctors that had the opportunity to evaluate Awkal deemed him to be severely mentally ill and suffering from schizophrenia. However, they believe that his mental competency may return by using an anti-psychotic drug treatment. Though they came to an agreement on his mental illness, the doctors disagreed on his ability to understand that the crime he committed was the reason he was sentenced to be executed.
The five doctors fell into three groups: two felt he lacked an understanding of why he received the death sentence, one felt he fabricated the story to avoid execution, while two were unsure and unwilling to go on the record. According to state law, Friedman must order treatment for Awkal’s mental illness. Afterwards, it is the prosecutor’s responsibility to request another trial in order to decide whether or not Awkal is still mentally ill. Prosecutor Bill Mason argues that Awkal swayed the court by belatedly changing his story right before his execution. Since Awkal fails to grasp why he is facing execution, the courts could not lawfully put him to death. Mason disagrees with the ruling and plans to seek an appeal. Even if a decision is made to overturn the death sentence, Kevin Cafferkey, Awkal’s attorney, says that Awkal will remain an inmate. If his mental competence is restored, it is possible that he will face execution again at some point in the future. Abdul Awkal’s execution would have been the second in Ohio this year since the end of a six month moratorium on capital punishment, but for now, he is safe.
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