Death row inmate ruled competent to be executed


Death row inmate Scott Panetti, who wore a purple
cowboy costume during
his 1995 capital murder trial and tried to subpoena
Jesus Christ and John
F. Kennedy, is mentally competent to be executed, a
federal judge ruled
today.

Panetti was spared from execution in February so the
courts could explore
his claim of mental illness.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who ordered the
execution delay, ruled
that Panetti meets the standard set by the U.S. 5th
Circuit Court of
Appeals of knowing that he committed 2 murders, that
he is to be executed
and why.

Sparks, however, left intact the stay of execution as
his ruling will
likely be appealed to the court in New Orleans and
possibly the Supreme
Court.

"He knows perfectly well this is going up," said Keith
Hampton, one of
Panetti's lawyers. He said the current standards for
competency set by the
appeals court are almost impossible to meet and should
be reviewed.

A native of Hayward, Wis., Panetti, 46, was sentenced
to die by lethal
injection for the 1992 slayings of Amanda and Joe
Alvarado, his estranged
wife's parents in Fredericksburg.

He was arrested after holding his estranged wife and
their 3-year-old
daughter hostage during a lengthy standoff with police
following the
shootings. Sonja Alvarado testified that after
shooting her parents at
close range with a rifle, Panetti turned the weapon on
her and pulled the
trigger, but it jammed.

In the decade leading up to the slayings, Panetti was
hospitalized for
mental illness 14 times. He wore cowboy attire during
his trial, mimicking
The Ringo Kid, the John Wayne character in the classic
Western movie
"Stagecoach."

He fired his lawyer and insisted on defending himself
during the 2-week
trial, although a judge named a lawyer to provide
legal explanations.
During jury selection, he flipped a coin to decide
whether a potential
juror should be seated on the panel. His initial
witness list sought to
subpoena Jesus and Kennedy.

Sparks conducted a 2-day hearing on Panetti's mental
state in September,
hearing testimony from expert witnesses on both sides.

Sparks said all the experts seemed to agree Panetti
suffers from some form
of mental illness but disagreed on the diagnosis and
whether it interfered
with his ability to understand why he was to be
executed.

While his lawyers say Panetti believes he is on death
row for "preaching
the Gospel," a psychiatrist and psychologist appointed
by the state have
described him as uncooperative and interested only in
"filibustering about
the Bible and the Lord."

Hampton said western civilization for centuries has
exempted the insane
and mentally ill from extreme punishment.

"Panetti lives minute by minute surrounded by demons
and devils tormenting
him," Hampton said. "Isn't that punishment enough?"

I find this decision utterly staggering!

:eek:

For someone who has been hospitalized 14 times for mental illness and who wore a purple cowboy suit to his trial plus the rest of his tragic history to be declared competent to be executed is sick. It just sounds like they just really want to kill someone. Obviously this man has been ill for quite some time - they acknowledge it by saying he does suffer from "some form of mental illness" but as long as he understands why they are killing him it's O.K. I mean how SICK is that?

The poor man doesn't need to be executed, instead he is in need of care
in the mental health ward at the prison in which he resides. It turns my stomach every time someone is murdered by any state. I hope that the
judge and departments of corrections can sleep well at night knowing that
what is happening here is just plain wrong. :angry:

I agree with the fact that having to live with his own demons are enough punishment, I can not even begin to understand how this can happen. I suppose that the people that work in the courts have no morals if they can sleep at night.

I don't understand how they can say he's competent !!! Obviously the man suffers from mental illness. Do they really think it's all just a show ????? Ugh !!!!!!!!!!

I recently watched a documentary about Aileen Wuornos (they made a movie called Monster about her story). Anyways in the documentary the film maker meets with her the day after she was diagnosed as mentally competent to stand execution. It was quite obvious she wasn't....right there on film for every one to see...it was clear she was quite ill...and they still executed her. I don't understand how the psychiatrists/psychologists can live with themselves.

I'm supportive of the death penalty...but this is just absurd! I'd hate to see how far gone someone would have to be to be deemed INcompetent if this guy appears to be competent. Very, very scary...