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Board reverses decision to release inmate's psychiatric report

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Posted 7:44AM on Tuesday 5th March 2002 ( 23 years ago )
ATLANTA - The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has reversed its decision to release the psychiatrists&#39; report that helped save a psychotic killer from lethal injection. <br> <br> After deciding last week to commute the death sentence of Alexander Williams, board members agreed to release the transcripts from a meeting with three psychiatrists. <br> <br> On Monday, the five members said in a written statement that some of the information concerning Williams&#39; mental health could not be made public because it ``constitutes a medical record that we cannot release.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The commutation of the sentence was controversial. <br> <br> ``With a decision that carries as much significance as this does, they should give their reasons,&#39;&#39; said Ken Hodges, immediate past president of the District Attorneys Association. ``It&#39;s left a lot of people to question how far the board will go.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Carolyn Bunch, the mother of the 16-year-old girl Williams kidnapped from an Augusta mall, raped and murdered in 1986, said the report would help her understand the board&#39;s decision. <br> <br> Williams might have been the first person in the United States who had to be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to be executed. That - along with his age at the time of the crime, 17 - drew international attention to his case. <br> <br> The board did not give a reason last week for commuting Williams&#39; sentence, but it came just a few hours after hearing from three psychiatrists hired specifically to examine him.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197908

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