USA - Superior Court Judge Robert Bell found Guy Tobias LeGrande incompetent for execution

Superior Court Judge Robert Bell found Guy Tobias LeGrande incompetent for execution due to his serious mental illness. Guy LeGrande has been on death row in North Carolina for 12 years. He was sentenced to death in April 1996 for the murder of Ellen Munford on 27 July 1993. He had come within days of execution in late 2006 before the judge issued a stay for the purpose of assessing the condemned man's competence for execution. Judge Bell held a hearing in 2007. Three psychiatrists testified that Guy LeGrande suffers from serious mental illness, including "thought disorder, psychosis and clinical paranoia."
Guy LeGrande, who is African American, was sentenced to death by an all-white jury for the murder of Ellen Munford, who was also white. According to the state's evidence at the 1996 trial, the murder was the result of a conspiracy formulated and led by her estranged husband, Tommy Munford. He had taken out a life insurance policy of $50,000 on her, with himself as the sole beneficiary. Tommy Munford, who is white, was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and, after testifying against Guy LeGrande, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Guy LeGrande's death sentence is not commuted by Judge Bell's ruling, and he remains on death row.