Despite assertions by his attorneys that he is mentally ill and is not able to be executed, a 57-year-old Oklahoma man is set to get a lethal injection on Thursday for the murder of his 9-month-old daughter in 2002.
The fact that Benjamin Cole killed Brianna Cole by forcing the child backward, breaking her spine, and rupturing her aorta is undeniable, but his attorneys contend that he is also suffering from severe mental illness and has a growing lesion on his brain that has gotten worse while he has been imprisoned.
Cole’s counsel testified before the state’s Pardon and Parole Board last month during a clemency hearing that Cole has rejected medical attention, neglected his personal hygiene, hoarded food, and lived in a darkened cell with little to no communication with staff or other convicts.
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Katrina Conrad-Legler, Cole’s attorney, stated that “His condition has continued to deteriorate throughout the course of this year.”
A district judge found Cole competent to be put to death earlier this month, and the panel voted 4-1 to deny clemency. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute request to stop his execution on Wednesday.
Conrad-Legler has stated that Cole has a lesion on his brain that is distinct from his paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, one that has gotten bigger recently and affects the area of his brain responsible for problem-solving, movement, and social interaction.
Cole’s mental illness symptoms are overstated, state attorneys and the victim’s family members told the board, and the brutality of his daughter’s murder justifies Cole’s execution.
Cole killed his daughter, according to Assistant Attorney General Tessa Henry, because he was enraged because her cries from her cot stopped him playing a video game.
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Ashley Willis, Assistant Attorney General, a different prosecutor, stated, “He is not seriously mentally ill.” Nothing in the law or the constitution prohibits his execution, according to the statement.
Prosecutors pointed out that Cole had previously served time in jail in California for harming another kid and that the infant had several bruises consistent with a history of abuse.
Members of the mother’s relatives, who pleaded with the board to deny clemency, also gave moving statements to the board.
According to Donna Daniel, the victim’s aunt, “the first time I got to meet Brianna in person was lying in a casket.” “A 9-month-old infant in a casket. Do you know how horrific it is?
“This infant merits justice. Our family is entitled to justice.
Cole is capable of being executed, according to the declaration made by Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor.
Cole cooperated extensively with a mental evaluation in July of this year, despite the fact that his counsel claimed he was catatonic due to his mental illness, according to O’Connor. The evaluation concluded that Cole was competent to be put to death and that he “does not currently display any substantial, overt indicators of mental illness, intellectual impairment, and/or neurocognitive impairment.”
The execution of Cole would be Oklahoma’s sixth since the state started using the death punishment again in October 2021.
