Mississippi man on death row is facing 2nd execution date, but may not be competent

Attorneys with the Mississippi Office of the Capital Post-Conviction Counsel filed a motion Wednesday asking the state Supreme Court to deny Attorney General Lynn Fitch's motion to set an execution date for Robert Simon Jr.

The office on Monday sought similar relief for Willie Manning, a man convicted of murdering two Mississippi State University students, for whom Fitch is also seeking an execution date.

Both men have been on death row since the 1990s.

Simon, along with Anthony Carr, who is also on death row at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, was convicted at trial for murder, sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary in connection with the deaths of four family members in Quitman County.

According to an earlier Clarion Ledger story, Carl Parker, his wife, Bobbie Jo, their 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter were murdered after they returned from church and found two men burglarizing their home. The girl was raped. Her father's finger was chopped off to steal his wedding ring. After shooting the victims, the killers set the house on fire, leaving the bodies to burn.

Both Simon and Carr were sentenced to death. Simon's attorneys say they are seeking an evaluation of his mental competence. Carr's attorneys also are challenging whether Carr is mentally competent, but Fitch is not asking the court to set an execution date for Carr.

Simon has not exhausted his legal options, his attorneys wrote in their response to Fitch's motion, citing multiple issues, including inadequate legal representation and lack of funds for experts to evaluate Simon's competency.

This will be the state's second attempt to execute Simon. An initial execution date was set in 2011, but was stayed since there was uncertainty over Simon's mental competence.

The attorneys currently representing Simon were appointed in October by the state Supreme Court and have been working to provide their client with some post-conviction relief.

They have scheduled an examination by a psychiatric expert, with an appointment date set for Jan. 31, 2024, and have plans to schedule others.

According to court records, Fitch assured Simon's CPCC team that her office would not seek an execution date until Simon's "post-conviction petition is 'filed and resolved.'"

"Capital post-conviction petitioners are entitled to effective assistance of counsel under the Mississippi Constitution," Simon's attorneys wrote in Simon's response to Fitch's motion to set his execution date.

Before the CPCC was appointed to represent Simon, he has had a succession of attorneys who have come and gone, including one who was disbarred and another who moved out of state and is no longer working with capital murder cases.

"Simon has a constitutionally protected right to effective assistance of postconviction counsel and to file a successive petition for post-conviction relief if prior post-conviction counsel was ineffective," Simon's attorneys wrote in their response.

An attempt to reach Fitch's office for comment was unsuccessful.

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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: MS death row inmate Robert Simon Jr still has legal options