COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A judge in South Carolina has ruled a death row inmate’s beliefs that most laws are unconstitutional and citizens have an absolute right to defend their property to the death are not proof he is mentally incompetent and should be executed.
The ruling clears the way for now for Steven Bixby to be put to death for the 2003 killings of two police officers who came to his family’s Abbeville home to discuss a dispute between them and a construction crew that had come to widen the road. Bixby’s lawyers can ask to appeal the ruling.
The state Supreme Court had stopped Bixby’s execution weeks before it could be scheduled and asked a lower court to decide if his beliefs about the legal system kept him from helping his lawyers as they appeal his death sentence.
Judge notes Bixby helps his lawyers
Judge R. Scott Sprouse noted in his ruling, dated late last week, that Bixby cooperates with his lawyers and the psychiatrists treating and questioning him.
While Bixby “has often disagreed with counsel and expresses distrust regarding their strategy in this proceeding, the evidence demonstrates that he understands their role, the rationale for why they are engaging in this competency proceeding, and that he can choose whether or not to cooperate with them,” Sprouse wrote.
Bixby family killed officers then shot hundreds of bullets in standoff
Bixby, 58, shot Abbeville County deputy Danny Wilson as the officer knocked on the front door of his parents’ home in December 2003, a day after they threatened the road crew, authorities said.
They dragged Wilson’s dying body inside and restrained him with his own handcuffs. Then they killed state Constable Donnie Ouzts as he and other officers rushed to the home after realizing Wilson had been missing for about an hour. That led to a 12-hour standoff as officers and the Bixbys fired hundreds of bullets at each other, investigators said.
Bixby’s parents were also charged with murder but died behind bars.
Experts at hearing said Bixby stands firm on his beliefs
The judge held a hearing last month to determine if Bixby was competent. Both sides had experts testify. One called by Bixby’s lawyers said the isolation of prison has only made his beliefs worse and that Bixby is stuck in a mindset that never grew.
But the judge put more weight with the ones called by the state noting two of them have been dealing with Bixby since shortly after the killings and while Bixby has been angry with their testimony about his mental state before he understands they have a job to do.
Those experts testified Bixby isn’t going to give up his beliefs about the law and the Constitution and he is ready to die as a martyr if his appeals fail. They said Bixby thinks he will be reunited with his parents in heaven.
The psychiatrist who sees and treats death row inmates in South Carolina said Bixby summed up his mental state to him as ““I’m not crazy. I’m not a mental health case. I may be an (expletive), but I’m not crazy.”
Bixby sends his own motion to the judge
After the hearing, Bibxy sent his own handwritten motion to the judge. He reiterated his long held belief that his family was justified killing Wilson because the deputy was trying to help take their land. He also suggested the judge would commit treason if he does not stop his execution and set him free.
“I am an innocent man!! Let freedom ring & let those committing treason swing!!!” Bixby wrote. “Like Thomas Jefferson: I am standing on principle even if I stand alone.”
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