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| Scott Panetti |
TEXAS SET TO EXECUTE SEVERELY MENTALLY ILL MAN
Scott Panetti, a 56-year-old man whose serious mental illness predated and contributed to the 1992 double murder for which he was sent to death row, and which infected his trial and persists to this day, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 3 December.
Scott Louis Panetti was hospitalized more than a dozen times between 1981 and 1992 as a result of his mental illness, including schizophrenia. When he and his wife, Sonja Alvarado, separated in August 1992, she took their three-year-old daughter and went to stay with her parents, Amanda and Joe Alvarado. On 8 September 1992, Scott Panetti shaved his head, dressed in military fatigues and drove to the Alvarados' home, where he shot his parents-in-law. He allowed Sonja and their daughter to leave. Later that day he changed into a suit and gave himself up to the police. He stated that “Sarge” (an auditory hallucination) controlled him during the crime, that divine intervention had meant that the victims did not suffer, and that demons had been laughing at him as he left the house.
In July 1994 a hearing to determine whether Scott Panetti was competent to stand trial was declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. A second hearing before another jury was held in September 1994. His lawyer testified that in the previous two years, he had had no useful communication with Scott Panetti because of his delusional thinking. A psychiatrist for the defense concluded that Panetti was not competent to stand trial. A psychiatrist for the prosecution agreed with the previous diagnoses of schizophrenia, and that Scott Panetti’s delusional thinking could interfere with his communications with his legal counsel, but concluded that he was competent. The jury agreed. Scott Panetti waived his right to counsel and the case went to trial in 1995 with him acting as his own lawyer. During the trial, Scott Panetti dressed as a cowboy and gave a rambling defense. Numerous people, including doctors, relatives and lawyers, who attended the trial described it as a “farce”, a “joke”, a “circus”, and a “mockery”. A lawyer appointed as stand-by counsel later recalled: “I have copies of the 200-plus subpoenas he filed. Scott wanted to subpoena Jesus Christ, JFK, actors, actresses, and people who had died”.
Scott Panetti’s current lawyers have filed a clemency petition and are also seeking a judicial stay of execution so that his competency for execution can be assessed, that is, whether he has a genuine understanding of the reality of and reason for his punishment. His competency has not been assessed since 2008. The lawyers have filed information from prison records indicating that his mental illness, delusions and irrational conduct persist. They also state that he reports “hearing voices”, and claims the prison authorities have planted a “listening device” in his tooth and want him executed to shut him up “about the corruption” and to stop him from “preaching the Gospel.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On 4 February 2004, Scott Panetti was 24 hours from execution in the Texas death chamber when a federal court issued a stay. The case was eventually taken by the US Supreme Court, which on 28 June 2007 used it to clarify a ruling it had made 21 years earlier. In
Ford v. Wainwright in 1986, the Court had affirmed that the execution of the “insane” violates the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on “cruel and unusual punishments”. However, the Ford ruling neither defined competence for execution, nor did a majority mandate specific procedures that had to be followed by the individual states to determine whether an inmate was incompetent. The result was different standards in different states, judicial uncertainty, and minimal protection against the death penalty for seriously mentally ill inmates (see
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/003/2006/en).
View the full Urgent Action here.
Name: Scott Panetti (m)
Issues: Death penalty, Imminent execution, Unfair trial UA: 292/14 Issue Date: 18 November 2014
Country: USA
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!
EITHER send a short email to
uan@aiusa.org with "UA 292/14" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent.
OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.
Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at
uan@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below. A petition by Victoria Panetti to stop her brother’s execution is at
http://chn.ge/1v3cc5m. Please help maximize numbers signing.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Please write immediately in English or your own language:
* Calling for plans to execute Scott Panetti to be immediately halted and for his death sentence to be commuted;
* Noting that Scott Panetti’s serious mental illness predates and contributed to his crime, infected his trial and apparently persists to this day, and that his execution would be against international standards.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 3 DECEMBER 2014 TO:
Clemency Section, Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd. Austin, Texas 78757-6814, USA
Fax: 011 1 512 467 0945
Salutation: Dear Board members
And copies to:
Governor’s Press office
Fax: 011 1 512 463 1847
Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
PO Box 12428
Austin, Texas, USA
Fax: 011 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor
Office of the General Counsel
Fax: 011 1 512 463 1932
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