June 21 SOUTH CAROLINA: S.C. Death Row Inmate Loses Appeal The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider an appeal from South Carolina death row inmate Jamie Wilson, convicted of killing 2 3rd-graders during a shooting spree at an elementary school in 1988. Mental health groups had urged the Supreme Court to use Wilson's case to decide if it is unconstitutional for states to execute people who were seriously mentally ill when they committed their crimes. The high court has already decided that mentally retarded inmates may not be put to death. Wilson pleaded guilty - but mentally ill - to killing two 8-year-old girls. He had been released from a hospital psychiatric unit about 5 months before the shootings, because his father's insurance no longer covered the bills. The then-19-year-old Wilson walked inside the lunchroom and shot at students and adults with a handgun, then fired more shots in a classroom. 7 other students and 2 teachers were injured. The case is Wilson v. Ozmint, 03-9909. (source: Associated Press)
