UPDATE: Andrew Brannan, the man convicted in 2000 of killing Laurens County deputy Kyle Dinkheller in 1998, was executed at 8:33 p.m. That's according to a news release from the Georgia Attorney General's Office.
The lethal injection happened after the U.S. Supreme Court , Georgia Supreme Court, and the day before, the Georgia Parole Board, all denied requests to stop the execution.
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UPDATE: ATLANTA (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a Georgia death row inmate's request for a stay of execution.
Andrew Howard Brannan is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday night at the state prison in Jackson. The high court's denial came roughly an hour after his scheduled 7 p.m. execution time had passed.
Brannan was convicted in the January 1998 slaying of 22-year-old Laurens County sheriff's deputy Kyle Dinkheller.
Authorities have said Dinkheller stopped Brannan for speeding and demanded he show his hands. Brannan began cursing, dancing in the street and saying "shoot me" before he rushed the deputy and shot him nine times.
Lawyers for Brannan, a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran, said the shooting was tied to mental illness linked to military service and argued he should be spared execution.
(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press)
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UPDATE: Clemency has been denied for Vietnam veteran and condemned killer Andrew Brannan Monday night.
His lawyers appealed to the Georgia Parole Board, and its five members discussed his case for hours Monday, eventually denying his plea.
A news release from the board says in part:
ATLANTA - Monday, January 12, 2015, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a clemency request from attorneys representing condemned inmate Andrew Howard Brannan. The Board has voted to deny clemency.
In reaching its decision, in addition to hearing testimony during the meeting on Monday, the Board prior to the meeting had thoroughly reviewed the parole case file on the inmate which includes the circumstances of the death penalty case, the inmate's criminal history, and a comprehensive history of the inmate's life.
Brannan is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, at 7 p.m., at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
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ATLANTA (WXIA) -- A Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is seeking clemency from his scheduled execution on Tuesday. His lawyers argue that after convicting Andrew Brannan for murdering a Laurens County, GA deputy, the jury did not receive enough evidence during sentencing about Brannan's PTSD and bipolar disorder.
On January 12, 1998, Brannan shot and killed Deputy Kyle Dinkheller after the officer stopped him for driving his truck 98 miles per hour. The shooting was captured on Dinkheller's dashboard camera.
The video shows Brannan screaming obscenities, daring or asking the officer to shoot him and dancing. Brannan is then seen retrieving a rifle from his vehicle and engaging in the firefight. Brannan was shot once. 22-year-old Dinkheller, a husband and father, was shot nine times and died.
Brannan's lawyers do not dispute that their client killed Dinkheller, but argue that Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles should commute the death sentence to life in prison without parole because of his mental condition.
"This was a brutal murder and it was captured on video," Joe Loveland, Brannan's attorney says. "That tape also shows erratic and irrational behavior"
Loveland argues it is not right to execute a Vietnam veteran, with a bronze medal and no prior record, who was and is suffering from PTSD.
"We're now the state of GA in the year 2015," Loveland said. "We have to ask ourselves the question, as a society does it make sense to execute, to kill, a decorated veteran who was unquestionably seriously damaged by his experience in the war. Does that make sense?"
Years after serving, he was rated 100% disabled with PTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which also found him to be suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts and bipolar disorder. Brannan argues the jury didn't hear testimony of the VA treating psychiatrist, Dr. William Boyer, about PTSD, Brannan's Bipolar Disorder diagnosis or about Brannan's lapse in medication in the weeks prior to the deadly traffic stop.
In his clemency papers filed this past Wednesday, Dr. Boyer writes, "Some, like Andrew, never recover from the psychological and emotional trauma suffered during war." Boyer continued, "the severity of Andrew's PTSD and Bipolar Disorder put him at higher risk of impulsive, angry and destructive behaviors over which he would have had little control."
The clemency petition also includes formal letters in support of Brannan's clemency.
"We now have 14 more years of experience of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars," Loveland said.
In addition to lawyers and family members for Brannan fighting for clemency, 1600 letters, mainly from Georgia, urging the board to grant clemency were delivered Friday. Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Southern Center for Human Rights led the effort.
Corporal Brian Stokes, Deputy Dinkheller's friend and colleague in 1998, disagrees with Brannan's legal team and wants the state to move forward with Tuesday's execution.
"For myself, law enforcement and the family, I think this will bring closure, and peace, I hope," Corporal Brian Stokes said.
Current Laurens County Sheriff Bill Harrell has the same perspective on the execution and says, "If that's what the court deems, that's what it has to be. It won't bring Kyle back, but like the Bible says, an eye for an eye."
Sheriff Harrell, Corporal Stokes and 20 other officers from Laurens County plan to be at Brannan's execution at 7 p.m. in Jackson, Georgia on Tuesday, January 13.
Deputy Dinkheller's father did not have an immediate comment on the clemency request but indicated he would speak to the media following Brannan's execution.
Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles will hear Brannan's appeal Monday morning.
