Veteran with PTSD Getting Review of Murder Conviction

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is scheduled for Monday to look into the appeal of a death row inmate to be executed the following day. Vietnam veteran Andrew Brannan was convicted of murdering a police officer but the court did not take his PTSD into account.

Mugshot of PTSD-afflicted Vietnam veteran Andrew Brannan who killed a police officer.

© Mugshot

Brannan was convicted in the 1998 murder of a Georgia state deputy who stopped Brannan for speeding. Brannan became belligerent with Deputy Kyle Dinkheller, dancing around and daring him to shoot him. Brannan took a rifle out of his car and engaged in a shootout with Dinkheller, who was shot nine times and died.

Brannan had been rated 100 percent disabled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Brannan's lawyers don't dispute he committed the crime, but they contend the jury wasn't given a chance to look into PTSD as a factor, and that the sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole because Brannan was "seriously damaged by his experience in the war," and is mentally ill and should not be executed. The VA also found him to suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, and suicidal thoughts.

Brannan was on medication to treat his PTSD and depression, but hadn't taken his meds for several hours before the deadly encounter with Dinkheller.

Dinkheller's law enforcement colleagues want the execution to go on, saying it would help bring closure to the deputy's family.

Dinkheller, 22 when he died, left behind a wife and baby.