Will SC cop killer with “constitutionalist” views be found competent to be executed?
Steven Bixby believes that he was in the right when he shot and killed two law enforcement officers in 2003.
His attorneys say he believesangels intervened to protect him in the 12 hour gunfight that followed. He doesn’t believe any Constitutionalamendments after the first ten are legal. He also believes that when a judge hears his side of the story, he will be set free.
Thesebeliefs are at the center of an unusual competency hearing taking place in Greenville, South Carolina, this week. His attorneys have argued that Bixby’s beliefs stem from diagnosed mental disorders and make him unable to rationally communicate with his defense team. If courts agree, he will be ineligible to be executed under South Carolina law.
Bixby was sentenced to death for the murders of Abbeville County sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wilson and state constable Donnie Ouzts on Dec. 8, 2003. The murders were the deadly result of a feud between the Bixby family, who espoused extreme anti-government views, and the S.C. Department of Transportation, which was planning to widen a highway ontothe Bixby’s property.
His father, Arthur, and mother, Rita, were also charged in connection with the murders. Arthur was diagnosed with schizophrenia and found not competent to stand trial. Rita, who prosecutors considered the driving force of the shootings, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy and two counts of accessory to murder. Both died in prison.
A self-described “strict Constitutionalist,” Bixby’s views intersect with those of the anti-government sovereign citizen movement. Bixby isa devout Christian who believes there was divine intervention in his case. He also engages in “magical thinking,” assigning great significance to patterns of numbers.
Mental health experts who diagnosed Bixby largely agree that he has narcissistic and paranoid personality disorders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. They also agree that he understands that he has been found guilty of killing Wilson and Ouzts.
But Bixby is resolute that under his interpretation of the Constitution, he cannot be executed.
“Because of his personality disorders, Mr. Bixby is unable to focus on things other than his own beliefs,” said psychologist Dr. Richart DeMeir, who testified for the defense.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office has argued that while Bixby’s beliefs might appear bizarre and his behaviour is difficult, that is not evidence of a mental illness that would make him incompetent to be executed.
“The fact that you’re delusional about something does not mean that you automatically are not competent to be executed,” testified psychiatrist Dr. Richard Fryerson for the prosecution. “Some defendants are competent, but they are very difficult.”
Bixby accuses ‘satanic’ lawyers of treason
Bixby, who has exhausted his normal appeals,received a rare stay of execution from the Supreme Court on March 14 of this year. The state’s highest court ordered Circuit Court Judge R. Scott Sprouse to hold a hearing to determine if Bixby meets South Carolina’s standard of competence to be executed.
The standard was established in a case known as Singleton v. State. It requires that an inmate not only be able to understand the nature of the proceedings and their sentence, but also be able to rationally communicate with their attorneys.
Bixby’s attorneys have argued that he is not competent under the latter standard. Judge Sprouse will have to decide whether Bixby’s beliefs are the result of his underlying mental disorders and make him unable to rationally communicate with his attorneys.
Most evidence indicates that Bixby had a troubled childhood and his parents were abusive. Bixby does not tolerate this interpretation, which experts have agreed is proof of his narcissism.
DeMier saidBixby has “gross misunderstandings” of the defense being mounted by his attorneys, Josh Kendrick and federal public defenders Gretchen Swift and David Weiss. He “steamrolls” people with his beliefs and responds negatively to any challenges, DeMier said.
Bixby completely rejects this argument just as he rejects all statutory law.
Bixby has described attorneys and judges involved in the case as “satanic” and believes they are guilty of treason, which experts say he believes is the only crime punishable by the death penalty. The only legal method of execution, Bixby believes, is hanging.
“His view that all statutory law is null and void is not a rational view,” DeMeir testified. “I don’t think this is a choice here, I think this is a result of his personality functioning and his personality disorders.”
What does the state say?
The stateAttorney General’s Office has argued that while Bixby can be difficult and his views might appear bizarre, they are not delusional and instead derive in part from widely held ideologies.
“He has unusual thoughts about the Constitutionbut they’re not delusions and they’re shared by a significant subculture of our population,” Fryerson testified. For Bixby’s beliefs to be delusional, they would need to be held by him alone, the state has argued.
While he can be passionate and even angry in defense of his views, he is capable of engaging in debate even if his core beliefs remain inflexible. Bixby accepts that his views are controversial and not widely accepted even by his defense counsel, testified Fryerson.
Bixby has acknowledged that courts may not agree with him and he might be executed but he is making the choice to put his beliefs first, Fryersontestified. “If he is executed he would keep his beliefs intact to the end and die as a martyr representing his beliefs.”
While Bixbylikes to be the center of attention, Dr. Richard Ellis, the chief of psychiatry for South Carolina’s death row, testified that Bixby is aware of how his fervent beliefs come across to others.
“‘I’m not a mental health case,’” Ellis recalled Bixby as saying. “‘I may be an ass---- bt I’m not crazy.’”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 6:05 PM.