Death Row News 3

MENTAL ILLNESS RESOURCES

• American Bar Association Resolution 122A and accompanying report on exempting those with severe mental illness from the death penalty, August 8, 2006. An almost identical resolution has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
• Amnesty International USA: The Death Penalty and Mental Illness
• "Ill-Equipped: U. S. Prisons and Offenders With Mental Illness," Human Right's Watch Report, September 2003
• "The Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders," Amnesty International Report, January 31, 2006.
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: Fact Sheet on Mental Illness
• National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
  • NAMI's "By Illness" Page
  • NAMI's Report, "Shattered Lives"
• National Mental Health Association
• DPIC's Web page: Time on Death Row

ARTICLES AND BOOKS ON MENTAL ILLNESS

• Michael Radelet and Kent Miller, "Executing the Mentally Ill," available from Sage Publications (1993).
• Laura Mansnerus, "Damaged Brains and the Death Penalty," (New York Times, July 21, 2001).
• Pete Earley, "A State of Outrage" On Earley's son and his troubles with the law (Washington Post, September 24, 2002)
• Kevin Drew, "Executed Mentally Ill Inmate Heard Voices Until End," (CNN, January 7, 2003). Article following the execution of Charles Singleton in Arkansas.
• Kathy Swedlow, "Forced Medication of Legally Incompetent Prisoners: A Primer" (Human Rights Magazine, Spring 2003)
• Dana Parsons, "Untreated Mental Illness Can Be Criminal" - Article covering a defendant's capital case (Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2003).
• John H. Blume and Sheri Lynn Johnson, "KILLING THE NON-WILLING: ATKINS, THE VOLITIONALLY INCAPACITATED, AND THE DEATH PENALTY," 55 South Carolina Law Review 93 (2003).
• Margaret Spinelli, M.D., "Maternal Infanticide Associated With mental Illness: Prevention and the Promise of Saved Lives" (American Journal of Psychiatry Digest, September 2004).
• Dan Malone, "Cruel and Inhumane: Executing the Mentally Ill," (Amnesty International Magazine, Fall 2005).
• Papers from a symposium on Mental Illness and the Death Penalty at the Catholic University Law School by Ronald Tabak, Prof. Christopher Slobogin, Ronald S. Honberg, Prof. Richard Bonnie , and Richard Dieter, 54 Catholic University Law Review 1113 (2005).
  

IMPORTANT AND RECENT CASES

• Ford v. Wainwright, 477 US 399 (1986) - Banned the execution of the insane.
• Guy LeGrande, a mentally man who was scheduled to be executed in North Carolina, was issued a stay of his Dec. 1, 2006 execution date.
• Percy Walton's scheduled execution in June 2006 in Virginia was stayed by Gov. Tim Kaine because of concerns about Walton's mental illness.  In Dec. 2006, Gov. Kaine concluded that Walton was mentally incompetent and that it would be uncconstitutional to execute him as long as this mental status continues.  See Clemency News 2006.
  

• Kelsey Patterson was executed on May 18, 2004 in Texas despite a 5-1 recommendation by the Parole Board for Clemency
  
  • Amnesty International Press Release Summarizing Patterson's Case
  • In-Depth Amnesty International Article on Kelsey Patterson
  • Austin American-Statesman Editorial on Patterson and Mentally Ill Defendants
    

• Scott Panetti was scheduled to be executed on February 5, 2004 in Texas, but he was granted a 60-day stay on February 4, 2004, and no new execution date has been set.
  • UPDATE: On January 5, 2007 the Supreme Court granted certiorari in his case. Read the Petitioner's Cert. Petition.
  • See also, Amnesty International's report on Scott Panetti: "Where is the Compassion?"
    

• Raymond Wood, whose appeal is being considered by the Western Missouri Court of Appeals
  • Case Summary from LarryRobison.org

• Charles Singleton, executed on January 6, 2004 in Arkansas
  • Singleton v. Norris (No. 00-1492) (8th Circuit Decision). Singleton was forcibly medicated to make him sane enough for execution.
  • Recent CNN Article on Singleton
  • "Condemned Prisoner Treated and Executed," by Alan A. Stone, MD; from Psychiatric Times, March 2004.

• James Colburn, executed on March 26, 2003 in Texas
  • Amnesty International Report, executed on March 26, 2003 in Texas

• Larry Robison, executed on January 21, 2000 in Texas
  • Amnesty International Report on Robison
  • LarryRobison.org, which covers mental illness and the death penalty; maintained by Robison's brother