13 May 2010 :

Luzerne County Judge Joseph Augello has ruled that George Banks cannot be legally put to death for the murders of 13 people because his psychological disorders render him incompetent. Former Judge Michael T. Conahan ruled Banks incompetent in 2006 and 2008, but the state Supreme Court rejected those opinions because of procedural errors.  Mr. Banks, 67, black, has been on death row since he was convicted in June 1983 on 12 counts of 1st-degree murder and a single count of third-degree murder for a September 1982 shooting spree in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Twp. that left 13 people, including five of his children and four of his girlfriends, dead.