OCCA grants stay of Pittsburg County man's execution

Dec. 27—Judges for an Oklahoma appeals court granted a request Friday to stay a February execution to allow an inquiry into the death row inmate's mental competency.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued a 100-day stay "to permit inquiry" into the mental competency of James Chandler Ryder "with all proceedings to be completed within that time."

Ryder, 61, was sentenced to death by a Pittsburg County jury for the 1999 death of Daisy Hallum and to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of Sam Hallum.

Court records and previous News-Capital articles report the Hallums were found dead at their property on April 9, 1999, with investigators believing a shotgun was used in Sam Hallum's death and that Daisy Hallum was bludgeoned to death.

Ryder was accused in their deaths following a dispute in Longtown. He reportedly lived on the Hallum property for some time before the killings.

Ryder's attorneys filed a motion for a stay of execution after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied a request made by the state's attorney general to reschedule the execution to a later date after a Pittsburg County judge continued Ryder's competency hearing to a date later than the scheduled execution date.

"Accordingly, the state cannot carry out Ryder's execution of Feb. 1, 2024," an attorney for the Oklahoma AG's Office wrote in its request to OCCA.

OCCA denied the AG's request due to a new law regarding the setting of competency hearings going into effect in 2022 during the initial stages of Ryder's attorneys pleading for a competency hearing to be initiated.

The new law states a death row inmate must file a motion with OCCA alleging incompetency within seven days after the AG filed a motion seeking an execution date. The old law stated the warden of the prison must notify the district attorney's office to initiate competency proceedings.

Judges wrote in their order "nothing done by the warden or the appellant set into motion" the previous law prior to its Nov. 1, 2022, repeal.

According to the order, judges said even though the deadline has passed, the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution "precludes that deadline" from being harshly applied to Ryder.

Judges said if Ryder's attorneys file a "proper and sufficient motion" with the court, judges will be required to remand for a hearing "on his competency to be executed before the district court."

Attorneys filed that motion on Thursday stating after speaking with Pittsburg County District Judge Mike Hogan, there were no available dates for the three-day trial to be held in January.

Witnesses and doctors who would testify on Ryder's competency also have limited dates available in January, the motion states.

"This stay is required. Otherwise, Mr. Ryder will be denied a meaningful opportunity to litigate his mental competency," attorneys for Ryder wrote in the motion.

OCCA granted the request, stating "Ryder has provided evidence to this court in support of his incompetency to be executed" and remanded the matter to the District Court of Pittsburg County.

Attorneys argue Ryder suffers from severe, diagnosed mental illnesses dating back 23 years with numerous psychologists and experts ruling the man incompetent through the years with the latest diagnosis in August 2022. Nearly 200 pages of documentation were filed by Ryder's attorneys containing notes and other documents from psychologists who have seen Ryder.