5th Circuit stays execution; lawyers cite inmate's paranoia, odd behavior
A federal appeals court on Wednesday stayed the execution of Texas death-row inmate Scott Panetti to consider claims that he is incompetent for execution.
The order (PDF) by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the stay was issued to “fully consider the late arriving and complex legal questions at issue in this matter.” The Associated Press, the New York Times and the Texas Tribune have stories. Panetti’s execution for the murder of his former in-laws had been scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Panetti represented himself at his 1995 trial during which he wore a purple cowboy suit and tried to subpoena Jesus Christ and the Pope. A brief (PDF) filed by his lawyers says Panetti “stands on the razor’s edge of competency.” He was found competent for trial in 2008 based on evaluations in late 2007. “That he was found competent then does not mean he is competent today,” the brief says.
The brief asserts that “mental health treatment professionals and correctional officers have noted alarming and aberrational changes in Mr. Panetti’s behavior over the last two years.” He reports hearing voices, and says his method to deal with the problem—reading the Bible and praying—is no longer effective. He has also demonstrated increasing paranoia about prison food and his belief that there is Satanic graffiti in his cell.
In a conversation with his pro bono lawyers, the brief says, he “spoke in a measured but ponderous tone,” but as the interview progressed he spoke about unrelated topics and was unable to answer his lawyers’ questions. His topics included working at a cowboy ranch, attending horse-shoeing school with a blacksmith who put shoes on one of John Wayne’s horses, the sinister misspelling of his name on execution paperwork, Bluetooth technology in his tooth, and his belief that he is being executed to stop him from revealing corruption and preaching the Gospel.
The state contends secretly taped conversations between Panetti and his parents show he is “grossly exaggerating his symptoms while being observed,” according to the New York Times account.
In November, ABA President William C. Hubbard wrote a letter asking the governor of Texas for an execution stay to allow for an evaluation of Panetti’s mental health.
