The nation’s oldest death row prisoner may be relinquishing his title, reports the Arizona Republic. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has sent the case of Arizona inmate Viva Leroy Nash, 94, back to a lower court to determine if he is mentally competent to assist in his appeals.
Nash has a criminal record that goes back to the 1930s. He spent 25 years in prison for shooting a Connecticut police officer in 1947, and he was sentenced to life in prison for shooting a man to death in Salt Lake City in 1977. He escaped from a prison work crew in 1982, and a month later, already 67 years old, he shot and killed a Phoenix coin shop sales clerk. He was sentenced to death for that murder.