By Dara Kam
The News Service of Florida
    TALLAHASSEE â Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday temporarily put a hold on the execution of Duane Eugene Owen and ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the Death Row inmate after his lawyers argued that he may be insane.
Owen, 62, is slated to be executed by lethal injection on June 15. But DeSantis issued an executive order calling for three psychiatrists to evaluate Owen.
According to the order, Owenâs lawyers sent a letter to the governor that included a neuropsychologistâs ârecent evaluationâ saying that Owen âmeets the criteria for insanity.â
Owen was âfeeling that he is a woman in the body of a manâ and âwas trying to fully become the woman he really was,â according to the order, which quoted from the neuropsychologistâs report.
Nothing in the recent report âdemonstrates that Owen lacks the mental capacity to understand the nature of the death penalty and the reasons why it was imposed,â DeSantisâ order said.
Under Florida law, a governor may put an execution on hold and order an examination by three psychiatrists when an inmate makes âsufficient allegations of insanity.â
DeSantisâ order said that the âallegationsâ in the neuropsychologistâs evaluation âare insufficient assertions of insanity,â according to requirements in state law.
But, he added, âbecause the governorâs solemn duty to execute a duly imposed sentence of death requires the exercise of utmost caution, I will nonetheless implement the requirementsâ of the law.
DeSantis ordered psychiatrists Wade Myers, Tonia Werner and Emily Lazarou to evaluate Owen on Tuesday. The Florida Supreme Court on Monday set up an expedited schedule to hear appeals in the case.
Owen has spent more than three decades on Death Row after being convicted of the 1984 rape and murder of Georgianna Worden in Palm Beach County.
The psychiatric evaluations of Owen come after DeSantis signed a suite of bills targeting transgender treatment for children and adults and the LGBTQ community.
One of the proposals prohibits doctors from using puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgeries for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria.