The court's order grants the government's request to lift an injunction that had blocked Purkey's execution, originally scheduled for Wednesday evening. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan dissented in the 5-4 opinion.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an injunction Wednesday prohibiting the federal Bureau of Prisons from going forward with Purkey's scheduled execution. Chutkan noted that Purkey suffers from progressive dementia, schizophrenia and severe mental illness, but did not rule on whether Purkey is competent, and ordered the court to further evaluate these claims. The Department of Justice appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Purkey was sentenced to death in January 2004 after he was convicted in federal court for the interstate kidnapping and killing of 16-year-old Jennifer Long in 1998.
Purkey's attorney, Rebecca Woodman, said he is "a 68-year old, severely brain-damaged and mentally ill man who suffers from advanced Alzheimer's disease and dementia."
"Though he has long accepted responsibility for his crime, he no longer has a rational understanding of why the government plans to execute him," Woodman said on Wednesday. "By staying Wes's execution, the court's action signals the importance of allowing him to present the extensive, available medical evidence demonstrating his incompetency to be executed."
Despite the Supreme Court's order, Purkey's attorneys continue to challenge his execution. Attorneys for Purkey argue that his execution warrant expired at midnight on July 15 and that any subsequent execution date must be predicated by 20 days advance notice.
Purkey's lawyers have also filed two last-minute claims in federal court in Indiana renewing his argument that he is mentally incompetent, making any execution unconstitutional.
It is unclear if these filings in the wake of the Supreme Court's order will further delay Purkey's execution.
If Purkey's execution moves forward, he will be the second federal inmate executed this week. The Justice Department restarted executions for the first time since 2003, and Daniel Lewis Lee was executed Tuesday morning in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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