SC justices question whether death row inmate faked IQ results

By: Skylar Laird

Outlets: South Carolina Daily Gazette

Published: April 1, 2026

Words: 1,118

Last Updated: 2 months, 2 weeks ago

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COLUMBIA — Whether a death row inmate could have purposely skewed his IQ results lower in an effort to escape execution was a central question Wednesday for South Carolina’s Supreme Court justices.

Bayan Aleksey was sentenced to death in September 1998 for killing Sgt. Franklin Lingard, a Highway Patrol officer who pulled him over in Orangeburg County for speeding on New Year’s Eve 1997.

Aleksey, who lived in Philadelphia at the time, was stopped for …

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