The brother of Paulding County killer Nicholas Cody Tate is asking state and federal judges to allow him to pursue appeals on his condemned brother's behalf.
Tate, convicted of killing Chrissie Williams and her 3-year-old daughter Katelyn in 2001, is set to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31.
In November 2005, Tate pleaded guilty to the crimes, waived a trial by jury and was sentenced to death by a Paulding judge after a sentencing hearing. Tate has since exhausted his automatic appeals, but he has yet to file his habeas corpus appeals, which are routine in capital cases.
This week, Tate's younger brother, Dustin Wade Tate, who was a co-defendant in the case and serving a life sentence for the crimes, has filed motions in state and federal court to litigate final appeals on his brother's behalf.
According to court filings, if a death-row inmate declines to pursue available appeals due to a mental disease or defect, another person who has a significant relationship with the condemned inmate can pursue them on his behalf. The filings cite an affidavits from mental health experts who say Nicholas Cody Tate was severely abused during his childhood and likely suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The state Attorney General's Office is asking for these filings to be dismissed. In a motion filed in Butts County Superior Court, state attorneys note that Tate was found competent to enter his guilty plea to the crimes and later said he wanted to waive his appeals. The office also suggested that a hearing could be held to determine whether Tate wishes to waive his habeas corpus appeals and said experts could be appointed to evaluate Tate's mental condition.
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