Scott Panetti’s lengthy history of schizophrenia and delusions is well documented, from trying to call Jesus Christ as a trial witness to believing that prison dentists put a transmitter in his tooth. Texas is arguing he's sane enough to face execution.
The Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, also known as the Walls Unit, home of the state’s execution chamber., our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s precedents, all the state must do to clear the constitutional barrier against executing the insane is prove that the 64-year-old has a “rational understanding” of why the state plans to kill him. In other words, as long as Panetti grasps the idea that he is to be executed for murdering people, the rest of his delusions are irrelevant.
Assistant Attorney General Jay Clendenin faulted Panetti for having told only one of his two recent evaluators that he believed he is a prophet, with an execution being the devil’s attempt to keep him from saving souls. And the prosecutor voiced skepticism of Panetti’s previous claims that he believes himself to be immortal and therefore unable to be executed.
Panetti’s recorded history of mental illness goes back more than four decades. Before going to prison, he had been hospitalized 14 times for psychotic behavior. He was repeatedly diagnosed with schizophrenia and found to be severely disabled, according to court records. After being found guilty and sentenced to death, his appeals have focused almost entirely on whether he was mentally competent to represent himself, to stand trial or to be executed. After his first execution date was set in 2004, the question of his competency made it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After another yearslong round of reviews, the courts accepted Panetti was competent, leading to a new execution date being set in 2014. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stopped it at the last minute, however, agreeing that a thorough, renewed look at his competency was warranted. “It is unprecedented to be litigating on an execution competency claim for 20 years now,” Greg Wiercioch said in his opening statements Monday, pausing as Panetti interrupted by loudly whispering to one of his other attorneys, a Bible verse citation standing out within the chatter.
In more than four hours of evaluation this July, however, a forensic psychiatrist hired by Panetti’s legal team said Panetti told him the state claims it wants to execute him for killing the Alvarados, but that’s not the real reason. Psychologist Timothy Proctor ultimately opined that while Panetti is severely mentally ill, he is still competent for execution because he understood rationally he was to be executed for the Alvarados’ murders. When asked about things like immortality or the execution, he believed Panetti was likely being evasive.
“The topic area is one that’s more emotionally loaded, and Mr. Panetti’s tolerance for that issue may be very limited,” he said.
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