USA-TEXAS/EXECUTION-STAY U.S. court halts execution for mentally ill Texas death row inmate

Record ID: 335815

  • Title: USA-TEXAS/EXECUTION-STAY U.S. court halts execution for mentally ill Texas death row inmate
  • Date: 3rd December 2014
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 3, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RON HONBERG, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS, SAYING: "Scott Panetti has been severely, unequivocally mentally ill for 35 straight years. I mean, he has been delusional for pretty much that entire period of time. He was hospitalized ten times prior to the crime occurring, ten times in 12
  • Embargoed: 18th December 2014 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0B9D3Q5X6ONU7XIR4NP0PU1I
  • Story Text: A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday (December 3) issued a stay of execution for a mentally ill Texas death row inmate who was set to be put to death later in the day for the murders two people.
    Lawyers for Scott Panetti had argued his life should be spared, saying the execution of a severely mentally ill man would be morally and legally wrong. They asked the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to issue the stay to allow for a competency hearing.
    Panetti, 56, was convicted of fatally shooting his wife's parents in the central Texas town of Fredericksburg in 1992. Panetti shaved his head, sawed off a shotgun and broke into the home of Joe and Amanda Alvarado, killing the two with his wife and daughter witnessing him shoot dead his mother-in-law, the Texas attorney general said.
    U.N. human rights experts on Tuesday (December 2) called on Texas to halt the execution. Major Texas newspapers including the Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News have said in editorials the execution of a seriously mentally ill inmate would be inexcusable.
    Mental health advocate Ron Honberg, of the National Alliance on Mental Illness said Panetti was clearly delusional at the time of the crime and thus, didn't meet the criteria for execution.
    "The death penalty should be reserved only for the worst of the worst, and then if there are any mitigating factors, for example a disorder of the brain that impairs a person's capacity, that that person should not be executed. We would not be talking about executing somebody with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, and in Panetti's case we are talking about a brain disorder just as severe," Honberg told Reuters on Wednesday prior to the order for stay of execution.
    Panetti donned a cowboy suit and represented himself at his 1995 trial, often speaking incoherently and seeking to call Jesus Christ and President John F. Kennedy as defense witnesses.
    Lawyers for Panetti had launched last-ditch appeals for the man they say is delusional. He was hospitalized a dozen times for psychosis and delusions in the six years leading up to the crime, they said.
    The Texas attorney general's office has said that courts have ruled Panetti competent to stand trial and to be executed.
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