[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

Tue Nov 18 16:06:02 CST 2014

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.

View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample 
messages, here.

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 at 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 at 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
Email: bpp-pio at tdcj.state.tx.us
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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