… on the day before his scheduled execution, a prisoner kills a guard in an unsuccessful attempt to escape. Do they delay his execution to try him, or do they just say “screw it, go ahead and execute him”?
IANAL but…
Many prisoners have been executed while there were still cases for which they hadn’t been tried. I don’t see why they would have to wait.
For example, Ted Bundy was executed while there were still many cases against him for which he had not been tried. He even attempted to confess to some of the murders for which he hadn’t been tried in an attempt to delay the execution, and they fried him anyway. I imagine this would be a similar situation.
First they execute him, and then they fine him.
The nineteen times something like this happened on Oz suggested that by the next day, it was business as usual.
They would most likely delay his execution until it was fully investaged. What if it was a murder for hire where someone wanted a guard dead and agreed to take care of the inmates family after his death.
From reading various John Grisham books I gather than all kinds of legal activity takes place in the hours leading up to an execution - last minute stays, appeals, all that sort of thing.
I would have thought the police would have to ensure that proper procedure was followed following the death of the guard in case the prisoner got a stay of execution for the original offence. Part of that might be holding the suspect for forensic analysis etc?
Not sure how often the last-ditch appeals work in real life, though.