U.S. Supreme Court Denies Appeal of Triple Murderer

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. —  Eight days before his scheduled execution, Horace E. Kelly’s attempt to revive a federal appeal was denied Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court, and his lawyers prepared motions for trial on whether the triple murderer is sane enough to be executed.

The court refused, without comment, to review an appeals court ruling that said Kelly forfeited his appeal by missing a one-year deadline under a new federal law. His lawyers said they could not file the appeal because Kelly’s deteriorating mental state left him unable to help them.

Kelly, 38, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection April 14 for killing three people in seven days in San Bernardino and Riverside in November 1984.

Today, jury selection is scheduled to begin in a Marin County trial to decide whether Kelly is sane enough to be executed.

California law and the U.S. Constitution both forbid execution of the insane, but the state has not had a trial of this kind since 1951.

A Superior Court judge ordered the trial after San Quentin prison officials reported that psychiatrists found reason to believe that Kelly was insane. The prison’s chief psychiatrist said Kelly is psychotic and steadily getting worse.

If Kelly is found insane, he will be transferred to a psychiatric ward at another prison, but could be sent back to court for a new hearing if authorities believe that he has regained his sanity.

Kelly was convicted in the 1994 shooting death of 25-year-old Sonia Reed after an attempted rape on a San Bernardino street. A day later, he fatally shot Ursula Houser, 43, after a robbery and attempted rape in a San Bernardino alley.

Five days later, Kelly held a gun to the head of 13-year-old Shannon Prock in Riverside, according to court records. Her cousin, 11-year-old Danny Osentowski, came to her rescue and began kicking Kelly, who let her go and then shot and killed the boy.

Kelly’s lawyers are fighting his execution on several fronts. Although the Supreme Court effort failed, his lawyers have also asked Gov. Pete Wilson for clemency, which would reduce his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.