After a nearly ten-year hiatus, Tennessee is set to resume executions – starting with Billy Ray Irick, a man with lifelong, well-documented mental illness.
Act fast to tell Tennessee’s Governor that this execution should not go forward.
At age eight, Irick spent 10 months in a psychiatric hospital. The rest of his childhood was spent in institutions. As an adult, he survived with the help of friends, but his untreated mental illness continued to escalate. By the time he committed the tragic crime for which he was sentenced to death, he was psychotic, hallucinating, and hearing voices that commanded him to kill perfect strangers.
All the experts that have examined Irick over the years agree that he has severe mental illness, but no court has ever been presented with the complete mitigating evidence.
This case alone shows that Tennessee’s death penalty is still far too broken to use.
Sign the petition asking Governor Haslam not to resume executions.
Billy Ray Irick will be executed on August 9 unless we do something about it, so please act quickly and share this action with your friends!
