Death Row Inmate Blames Gulf War

L U B B O C K, Texas, March 1 -- A Gulf War Syndrome defense is all that stands between decorated Army veteran Louis Jones Jr. and the federal execution chamber.

Jones is scheduled to die by lethal injection March 18 at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 1995 rape and murder of 19-year-old Army Pvt. Tracie McBride. He has exhausted appeals but has asked President Bush to spare his life.

Jones' attorney in Lubbock, Texas, Tim Floyd, said Jones should be dropped from death row because the injuries he suffered in the Gulf War led to his crimes. Floyd claims new medical evidence, which the jury did not see, will back his claims.

"The jury that considered this case was not aware, because they could not be aware, that there has been evidence that is clear now that Sgt. Jones was exposed to nerve gas of Saddam Hussein," Floyd said.

"What medical science now can tell us is that he has a very specific form of brain injury, and that form of brain injury did lead to the conduct and personality changes that he exhibited when he came back," he said.

Victim’s Family Doesn’t Buy It

Tracie McBride's mother told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that Jones used a similar defense in the trial, and it didn't work.

"It was a hotly contested thing at the trial," said Irene McBride of Centerville, Minn. "They did bring up Persian Gulf syndrome back then and brain damage."

She says Jones' latest defense is nothing more than a last-minute excuse. "There's a lot of people that go to the Gulf War that don't come back and murder," she said.

Jones, 52, has received political support from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. Although Hutchison supports the death penalty, she says Jones should undergo a brain scan before Bush decides whether the war veteran should be put to death.

Stacie McBride, the victim's sister, says she's confident the president "knows who the victim is" and won't spare Jones' life.

"I don't think he's going to overturn it," she said. "He's a smart, a very intelligent man, and based on the facts of this case, in no way, shape or form will anyone see Jones to be the victim."