Andrew Brannan - Decorated Vietnam Veteran With PTSD To Be Executed

ATLANTA, Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Andrew Brannan, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Georgia on January 13, 2015. He was convicted of killing Deputy Sheriff Kyle Dinkheller during a confrontation that occurred at a traffic stop for speeding. Andrew did not have a criminal record or history of violence at the time he tragically shot and killed the officer. Andrew's bizarre behavior at the shooting was captured on the officer's dashboard camera. There is no disputing the crime. But his pending execution raises questions about whether it is right to execute a mentally-ill veteran whose mental illness is directly related to his combat experience.

Evidence of the veteran's severe PTSD, bi-polar disorder and lack of medication was not fully introduced at trial and prosecutors dismissed PTSD as insignificant. Andrew's doctor was not called as a witness. His psychiatrist writes in Andrew's clemency petition that the chaos and violence of his combat experiences dominated Andrew's thoughts during his years of treatment.  The doctor also writes that when Andrew is on his medications, he is not a danger to himself or others. At the time of the murder, Andrew had not taken his medications regularly for at least five days.

In a trial that lasted only one week, Andrew was convicted in the Superior Court of Laurens County, Ga., of one count of malice murder and sentenced to death.

Andrew received two Army Commendation Medals and a Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat, but his combat experiences forever altered him. Veterans Administration doctors determined in 1984 that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and granted him partial disability.  By 1991, his condition deteriorated to the extent that he was given a 100% disability rating.  The V.A. diagnosed him as also suffering from Bipolar Disorder in 1996.

Andrew Brannan's heroic combat service in Vietnam, his serious mental illness as a direct result of his service and the fact that he was not properly medicated support a conclusion that he does not deserve the death penalty. See his clemency petition here.

About The Georgia Resource Center
The Georgia Appellate Practice & Educational Resource Center ("Georgia Resource Center") is a small 501(c)(3) non-profit law office established in 1988 to provide free, high quality representation to indigent death-sentenced Georgia prisoners in state and federal habeas corpus proceedings challenging their capital convictions and death sentences.

The Georgia Resource Center is responsible for ensuring that all of Georgia's death sentenced prisoners have meaningful and vigorous representation at this critical stage of death penalty case review. Without the efforts of the Resource Center, many condemned prisoners would have no representation at all in Georgia post-conviction proceedings, because Georgia is the only state which does not provide for counsel as a matter of right in post-conviction (habeas corpus) proceedings.

SOURCE The Georgia Resource Center