One minute before being led to the execution chamber, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of mentally ill Texan James Blake Colburn who had been denied relief by the Supreme Court earlier today. Justice Anton Scalia granted the stay and referred it to the full Court. As of this writing, the grounds upon which he granted the stay are not known.

"The Supreme Court granted a last-minute reprieve tonight to a death-row inmate who suffers from severe mental illness, halting his execution as prison officials were preparing to lead him to the gurney to be injected with lethal fluids."

"Lawyers for the inmate, James Blake Colburn, filed an appeal before the Supreme Court at 5:59 p.m., one minute before Mr. Colburn was scheduled to be lead to the death chamber. It asked the court to stay the execution on the grounds that Mr. Colburn was incompetent to be executed and had been denied his constitutional rights during proceedings in state court."

No one disputes Mr. Colburn is mentally ill. But while the Supreme Court has outlawed execution of the retarded, it has not done so for the mentally ill.

"Psychiatric problems were first diagnosed in Mr. Colburn when he was 14. He began suffering hallucinations and hearing voices at 17, not long after he was raped while hitchhiking. He bounced between mental health programs, and his medical records note that he was voted out of one support group after he tried to kill himself. In all, Mr. Colburn has tried to commit suicide at least 15 times. His medical records say his chronic paranoid schizophrenia has often left him hearing voices that command him to harm himself or others."

Mr. Colburn's lawyers have 90 days to file a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the full Court. If the petition is denied, another execution date will be scheduled within 30 days.