Texas Inmate Basis of Supreme Court Case

[Snowden]

Texas Inmate Basis of Supreme Court Case


By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:30 p.m. ET April 14, 2007

LIVINGSTON, Texas - Bible-toting Scott Panetti preaches the word of God to a disinterested and largely invisible congregation from his pulpit _ a high-walled prison death row recreation area topped with a ceiling of chain-link fence.

"He gets on people's nerves," said fellow death row inmate Charles Nealy. "He'll just start _ out of nowhere. But the man is a natural Jimmy Swaggart. He's good at it. He'll tell you in a minute you're going to hell."

Panetti's lawyers, death penalty opponents and mental health advocates describe him as severely mentally ill _ and deserving of mercy.

The double-murderer's attorneys won an opportunity to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court this week that he should not be executed, as Nealy was last month.

"Executing a person who cannot understand that his impending death is the result of the crimes for which he stands convicted adds a further dimension to this cruelty," Panetti's lawyers said in a brief to the high court.

Four courts have said he was competent when he fired his trial lawyers. A jury and two courts rejected his defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. He personally argued that only an insane person could prove the insanity defense.

The court already has banned execution of inmates found to be mentally retarded and those who committed their crimes when they were younger than 18.

The question the high court has agreed to hear arguments on Wednesday is whether Panetti's mental illness has caused him to have a delusional belief about why Texas wants to execute him.

Panetti believes he's being executed for preaching, said his lead attorney, Keith Hampton.

"He calls himself a born-again April fool because he believes on April 1, 1995, God miraculously cured him of his mental illness."

In 2004, as one execution date neared, he told lawyers his punishment was part of a satanic conspiracy to prevent him from preaching the gospel.

The Supreme Court said in 1986 that a prisoner may be executed if he is aware of the punishment and understands why he is subjected to it.
Hampton said the argument being made to the court is simple.

"A person must have a rational understanding of why they are to be executed," he said. "The state is arguing 'no, you don't.'"

Court-appointed medical experts for the state have determined Panetti knows he faces execution and has the ability to understand why he is being executed. They suspect his bizarre behavior is contrived.

State lawyers want the justices to adopt a clear test of mental illness that would make someone ineligible for the death penalty only if he lacks the capacity to recognize his punishment is the result of a capital murder conviction and that he will die.

At a federal evidentiary hearing, defense medical experts said while he understood he was to be executed, he did not connect the murders as the reason for the punishment.

Panetti, a former ranch hand and native of Hayward, Wis., had a history of mental problems before his conviction, recording 14 hospital stays over 11 years.

He was condemned for the September 1992 slayings of his estranged wife's parents, Joe Alvarado, 55, and Amanda Alvarado, 56, at their Fredericksburg home in the Texas Hill Country. His wife was living with them at the time. A week earlier she had obtained a court order to keep him away.

"I just wanted to see my wife," Panetti said in a recorded statement played at his trial, explaining why he went to the home armed with a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three knives and dressed in camouflage clothing.

"I put on my combat stuff so if I was cornered, I wanted to have my equipment. It was like I wasn't even in control, like someone else was pushing me."

His wife and 3-year-old daughter were sprayed with blood when Panetti shot his in-laws, then were held hostage until he surrendered after a lengthy standoff with police. He blamed it all on "Sarge," one of his multiple personalities.

During jury selection at his trial, he flipped a coin to decide whether a juror should be put on his panel, fired his lawyers and insisted on defending himself. He submitted an initial witness list that sought 200 subpoenas, including Jesus Christ and John F. Kennedy. He showed up for court dressed in cowboy clothing that mimicked Western B-movie star Tom Mix.

He took the stand in the identity of "Sarge," speaking in staccato non-sentences: "Boom, boom, blood, blood."

© 2007 The Associated Press.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18109911/

[Woodmonkey]

"Executing a person who cannot understand that his impending death is the result of the crimes for which he stands convicted adds a further dimension to this cruelty," Panetti's lawyers said in a brief to the high court.

Adding an extra dimension to this cruelty? Since when is holding a person accountable for their crimes cruel?

Four courts have said he was competent when he fired his trial lawyers. A jury and two courts rejected his defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. He personally argued that only an insane person could prove the insanity defense.

< snip >

Panetti believes he's being executed for preaching, said his lead attorney, Keith Hampton.

"He calls himself a born-again April fool because he believes on April 1, 1995, God miraculously cured him of his mental illness."

In 2004, as one execution date neared, he told lawyers his punishment was part of a satanic conspiracy to prevent him from preaching the gospel.

Easy to fake this kind of behavior and it proves nothing. (see just below)

Court-appointed medical experts for the state have determined Panetti knows he faces execution and has the ability to understand why he is being executed. They suspect his bizarre behavior is contrived.