Scott Panetti case roundup: Christian Post, Progressive Pulse Blog, NAMI Austin
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Stefanie Faucher
Nov 18, 2014, 11:24:23 AM11/18/14
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This e-mail contains news from:
- Christian Post - Evangelical Leaders Ask Rick Perry to Stop Execution of Mentally Ill Texas Man Who Believes He's Being Punished for Preaching the Gospel
- The Progressive Pulse Blog - Petition drive launched to save life of schizophrenic death row inmate
- NAMI Austin - Tell Texas: Executing Mentally Ill Scott Panetti Would Cross the Line of Common Decency
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Evangelical Leaders Ask Rick Perry to Stop Execution of Mentally Ill Texas Man Who Believes He's Being Punished for Preaching the Gospel
By Stoyan Zaimov, November 17, 2014
The attorneys for Scott Panetti, a severely mentally ill man who believes Texas is trying to execute him for preaching the Gospel, have asked the state to stay his execution. Panetti's death sentence, however, is not for preaching the Gospel, but for murdering his parents-in-law in 1992. His planned execution is being opposed by both mental health professionals and over 50 evangelical leaders.
"If his execution date is not withdrawn, he will go to the execution chamber convinced that he's being put to death for preaching the Gospels, not for the murder of his wife's parents, and the retributive goal of capital punishment will not be served," the Texas Defender Service group warned.
Lawyers Greg Wiercioch and Kathryn Kase filed the new motion late last week in the 216th District Court in Kerrville, Texas, seeking to stay Panetti's execution scheduled for Dec. 3.
The motion noted that the mentally ill man, who has suffered from schizophrenia for over 30 years and believes he's in a battle with Satan, has not had a competency hearing in nearly seven years.
Newly released records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice note that the 56-year-old man has undergone "alarming and aberrational changes" in his behavior over the past two years. Panetti has said that he believes he's "hearing voices" and has a "listening device implanted in his tooth." He has also said that he believes he's being executed "because TDCJ wants him to 'shut up' about the corruption and to stop him from preaching the Gospel."
Last week over 50 evangelical leaders signed a joint letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, warning that Panetti's execution would "cross a moral line."
"As Christians, we are called to protect the most vulnerable, and we count Mr. Panetti — a man who has suffered from severe mental illness for over 30 years — to be among them. If ever there was a clear case of an individual suffering from mental illness, this is it," the Evangelicals said.
"Mr. Panetti is a paranoid schizophrenic, which was apparent at his trial, where he represented himself with his life on the line. He wore a TV-Western cowboy costume and attempted to subpoena the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ. The fact that his trial was carried out in such a fashion is a mockery of the criminal justice system."
Panetti was found guilty of the murders of his parents-in-law in 1992 and sentenced to death. He was initially scheduled to be executed in 2004, but a federal judge stayed the order.
Mental health professionals have called for Panetti to be given life in prison instead, noting that the man has been diagnosed with paranoia, delusions, schizophrenia, depression, chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia with acute exacerbation, brain dysfunction, auditory hallucinations, posttraumatic stress disorder, and schizoaffective disorder.
The mentally ill man had also been hospitalized 12 times due to psychotic behavior before he committed the murders. The attorneys added that the first time Panetti showed signs of a psychotic disorder was in 1978, over 14 years before the crime.
They added that at the time of the murder, Panetti was again showing clear signs of having a severely disturbed mind. He had gone off his antipsychotic medication, shaved his head and dressed in camouflage fatigues before going to his in-laws home where he killed them.
"The Gospel message compels us to speak for those without a voice and to care for the most vulnerable. For this reason, it is imperative that we treat those with mental illness in a fair and humane manner," states the letter, signed by evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Sam Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice; Lynn Hybels of the nationally prominent Willow Creek Church; and Gabriel Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
Further information about the case and about the various instances in which Panetti has shown to be suffering from mental illness is available on the Texas Defender Service website.
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Petition drive launched to save life of schizophrenic death row inmate
By Rob Schofield, November 17, 2014
It’s tragically absurd that people have been forced to resort to this, but the family, friends and advocates helping Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti have launched a petition drive to help promote his effort to gain clemency.
The following description of Mr. Panetti’s situation comes from the good folks at the Texas Defender Service:
Scott Panetti was honorably discharged from the Navy at the age of 18. Eighteen months later, he was diagnosed with “early schizophrenia.”
Scott Panetti has suffered from severe mental illness for over 30 years. It first manifested itself at least a decade Scott Panettibefore the crime for which he was convicted and sentenced to death in Texas. His severe mental illness has infected every stage of his capital case and although Mr. Panetti continues to be severely mentally ill, Texas now plans to execute Mr. Panetti on December 3, 2014.
This is the enduring image of Mr. Panetti’s case: a paranoid schizophrenic wearing a TV-Western cowboy costume; on trial for his life, insisting on defending himself without counsel; attempting to subpoena the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ; and raising an insanity defense. Mr. Panetti’s pro se performance was an abomination and his trial was a mockery of the criminal justice system.
In 2004, Texas tried to execute Mr. Panetti, but a federal judge stayed the execution and the United States Supreme Court ultimately rejected the Fifth Circuit’s unconstitutional standard for determining competency to be executed in Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. 930 (2007). Notwithstanding that decision, Texas continued to contest Mr. Panetti’s mental competence to be executed. In 2013, the Fifth Circuit again found him competent to be executed – despite the District Court’s findings that he has a severe mental illness and suffers from paranoid delusions.
Today, Mr. Panetti again stands on the brink of execution. His fixed delusion centers on his belief that his execution is being orchestrated by Satan, working through the State of Texas, to put an end to Mr. Panetti’s preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the condemned.
The petition organizers are seeking 5,000 signatures and are close. Click here for more information if you would like to lend your name.
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Tell Texas: Executing Mentally Ill Scott Panetti Would Cross the Line of Common Decency
By NAMI Austin, November 18, 2014
This is the enduring image of Scott Panetti, a man with severe and persistent mental illness on death row in Texas: a man with paranoid schizophrenia wearing a TV-Western cowboy costume; on trial for his life; insisting on defending himself without counsel; attempting to subpoena the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ; and raising an insanity defense. At one point, he cross-examined his own alter-ego, Sarge, answering his own questions on-stand, in a different voice.
Mr. Panetti’s pro se performance was an abomination and his trial was a mockery of the criminal justice system. But if Texas has its way, Mr. Panetti will be executed on December 3, 2014.
Believing that the execution of Scott Panetti would cross a moral line, a diverse group of unlikely allies from across the political spectrum, including mental health professionals and organizations, faith leaders, conservatives, legal experts, and former prosecutors are banding together to urge Governor Rick Perry to stop Panetti’s execution.
You can add your name to the effort to stop Mr. Panetti’s execution here.
As this powerful documentary shows, Panetti first showed signs of mental illness over 14 years before the offense for which he was sentenced to death. Doctors repeatedly diagnosed him with chronic schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, and his condition continued to deteriorate.
In 1986, he developed the delusion that he was engaged in spiritual warfare with Satan. As he grew obsessed with the idea the devil was in the house, he began trying to exorcise it, at one point burying his furniture in his backyard because he believed it was possessed. Two years before his crime, he was involuntary committed for homicidal behavior and was found to be suffering from delusions and psychotic religiosity. But the mental health system failed him, and, in the grips of his severe illness, he committed a terrible crime against his family members.
Today, Panetti suffers from a fixed delusion that Satan is working through the state of Texas to kill him in order to stop him from preaching Christ’s word. He has no rational understanding of the actual relationship between his crime and the punishment he now faces.
Our society and the courts have reached a consensus that executing the mentally ill serves no purpose if prisoner has no rational understanding of the reason for his punishment. Panetti unquestionably falls into this category, yet the Courts have refused to intervene. His execution would be a miserable spectacle and a moral outrage.
Join the public outcry against the execution of the severely mentally ill. Sign and share the Change.org petition demanding Governor Rick Perry stop Panetti’s execution http://chn.ge/1v3cc5m.
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