COLUMBUS — Killer Jay D. Scott's two close calls with execution should prevent him from facing it a third time, his attorneys said Friday.

        A motion filed Friday afternoon with the Ohio Supreme Court argues it would be cruel and unusual to execute Mr. Scott on Thursday because he has already been traumatized by two previous execution preparations.

Scott

        It was not clear how the Supreme Court would react to the plea, given that just two days agoit set the new execution date.

        Convicted of killing Cleveland delicatessen owner Vinnie M. Prince in 1983, Mr. Scott came within an hour of execution April 17 when the Supreme Court issued a stay.

        He came within 10 minutes of death May 15, before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals stopped the clock.

        In both cases the courts stopped the executions to consider if Mr. Scott should be spared because he is a diagnosed schizophrenic.

        The courts ultimately upheld the state law that allows executions as long as the condemned understands he will die for a crime he committed.

        “The two brushes with death makes this a brand-new claim,” said attorney Timothy F. Sweeney. “It's a unique set of circumstances that makes executing Jay D. Scott cruel and unusual punishment.”

        Mr. Sweeney quoted stories published by The Cincinnati Enquirer and other publications to back that argument.

        In a May 17 Enquirer story, psychiatrist Phillip Resnick compared Mr. Scott's experience to “mock executions” used to torture American prisoners of war during the Vietnam conflict.

UC grads challenged to improve city
May showers bring ... mosquitoes
Fans in frenzy over 'NSync
Game's future may be in doubt
Gay pride leaders say support up
Lawmakers make annexation harder
Now students can live at school
Ohio birthday budget shrinks
Rally turns focus to growing violence
MCNUTT: Canine fun
Plea entered in Craven killing
Fliers show off stunts
Community center hunts for funds
Company will compensate landowners when laying cable
County rule applies to city
Dayton faces civil rights lawsuit
DEA moving to monitor OxyContin
Form of meningitis kills Toledo teacher
Girl killed, two hurt in crash
Injured man identified
Killer's plea: third execution countdown cruel
Man guilty in child porn case
Ohio family of four found shot to death
Parents, too, taste college life
Patton: Budget will be OK in '02
Police look for foiled hotel robber
Racketeering charges a first
Siblings charged after cats found in squalor
Thermal camera shows suspect in dark
Thousands near Salem get shots
Uncapped tuition expected to leap
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report