SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon Death Row inmate who has said he wants to proceed with his execution says he plans to ask a Marion County judge to give him a new lawyer. In a phone interview with The Oregonian, Gary Haugen said Tuesday that his current lawyers are working against him as they attempt to prevent his death.
The inmate says lawyers Andy Simrin and W. Keith Goody are “doing it without my consent.”
The lawyers argued in a motion filed earlier Tuesday that Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond’s (guh-MAWND’s) “open hostility” toward them and his writings raise concerns about his ability to assess Haugen’s mental competence. A spokesman for the judge did not comment. The judge agreed last week to cancel an Aug. 16 execution date after the Oregon Supreme Court called for a competency hearing for Haugen.
Defense lawyers say the 49-year-old inmate is delusional.
Haugen was convicted in 1981 of killing a former girlfriend’s mother and in 2003 for killing another inmate.
