Oklahoma death row inmate who killed a bank guard is incompetent for execution, judge says

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma judge has ruled that a death row inmate is incompetent to be executed after the inmate underwent mental evaluations by psychologists for both defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Pittsburg District Judge Tim Mills wrote Thursday that both psychologists found that Wade Greely Lay, 63, lacks a “rational understanding” of why he should be executed.

“Given Mr. Lay’s current state of incompetence, the court finds that Mr. Lay may not be executed at this time,” Mills wrote in an order signed by attorneys and state and local prosecutors.

Under Oklahoma law, a prisoner is mentally incompetent to be executed if he cannot rationally understand why he is being executed or that his execution is imminent.

Attorney Callie Heller said the ruling is a relief.

“Wade firmly believes that his execution is part of a vast government conspiracy aimed at silencing him,” Heller said in a statement.

Mills ordered that Lay undergo mental health treatment in an attempt to restore his sanity, which Heller said is unlikely.

“Given the duration and severity of Mr. Lay’s mental illness and his deterioration in recent years, it is unlikely that he will become competent in the future,” Heller said.

Heller said prosecutors are expected to request a formal stay of execution.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Gentner Drummond did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Lay, who represented himself at trial, was convicted and sentenced to death for the May 2004 shooting of a bank security guard as he and his then-19-year-old son attempted to rob a bank in Tulsa.

His son, Christopher Lay, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the attempted robbery.

Thursday’s ruling marks the second time this year that a court has deemed a death row inmate in Oklahoma incompetent to be executed.

In March, a separate judge ruled that the state could not execute 61-year-old James Ryder for his role in the 1999 murders of a mother and her adult son.

In April, Oklahoma executed Michael Dewayne Smith for the 2002 shootings of two women.

Smith was the first person executed in Oklahoma this year and the twelfth put to death since the state resumed executions in 2021 after a nearly seven-year hiatus due to problems with executions in 2014 and 2015.

Drummond, the state’s attorney general, has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for five additional sentenced inmates, starting 90 days after Lay’s scheduled execution.