‘Come on with it’: Arkansas inmate asks to hasten execution

Scotty Ray Gardner

A Faulkner County judge has scheduled an August hearing to determine whether a death row inmate can bypass his attorney’s advice, drop his remaining appeals, and hasten his execution.

Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, is facing the death penalty for the 2016 killing of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in Conway.

In letters sent to Circuit Judge Chuck Clawson and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gardner said he wants to end his legal battles, writing that he is tired of prison life and skeptical he will receive a fair hearing.

“It’s simple,” Gardner wrote in a September letter. “Come on with it.”

The hearing, scheduled for Aug. 24-28, will focus on whether Gardner is legally competent to waive his right to appeals. His attorney, Lee D. Short, wrote in court filings that Gardner has a history of psychosis and schizophrenia. Short told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that his client’s request is a byproduct of “extremely toxic and dehumanizing” prison conditions.

Prosecutors contend Gardner understands his actions. They said that during a May 2025 hearing, Gardner testified under oath that he does not have a mental illness and admitted to faking psychological issues during previous arrests. Prosecutors also cited recorded phone calls in which Gardner described the 2016 killing.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, inmates known as “volunteers” — those who waive their appeals to expedite execution — account for roughly 10% of executions in the United States since 1976. Arkansas has executed four such inmates, most recently Clay King Smith in 2001.

Arkansas has not carried out an execution since 2017.

Read more at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Subscription may be required.

Image via the Arkansas Department of Corrections