Quincy Allen was scheduled to be electrocuted Friday January 8, 2010. Today the S.C. Supreme Court granted a stay so his lawyer can file a petition in the U.S. Supreme Court according to The State Newspaper.
Allen, 30, was sentenced to death in 2005 after pleading guilty to a 2002 crime spree in which he killed four people across North and South Carolina. Because he pleaded guilty, a judge – not a jury, decided his punishment. That is the issue his lawyer, appellate defense attorney Robert Dudek, wants to appeal.
“You have your 6th Amendment right to a jury trial and your 8th Amendment right to present any and all mitigating evidence,” Dudek said. “If you want to plead guilty and take responsibility, show remorse and all that, you can’t do it in South Carolina, to a jury.”
The stay postpones Quincy Allen’s execution until at least March 16, 2010.
