This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will consider the case of Scott Panetti, who faced execution last year by the State of Texas despite his long, documented history of severe mental illness. Panetti holds a fixed delusional belief that the State seeks to execute him to prevent him from preaching the gospel.
Category: incompetency
Breaking: Today, a 5-4 splintered Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) denied, on jurisdictional grounds, a stay of execution and appointment of counsel and mental health experts for Scott Panetti, a […]
Just In: Following a denial in district court, attorneys for Scott Panetti, a man who has suffered from schizophrenia for over thirty years, asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) to […]
Today, attorneys for Scott Panetti, a man who has suffered from schizophrenia for over thirty years, and whose case has elicited widespread support for a stay of execution, have filed a new Motion in the 216th District Court in Kerrville, Texas, which seeks to stay or modify Mr. Panetti’s scheduled December 3rd execution date in order to assess Mr. Panetti’s competency to be executed. Mr. Panetti has not had a competency hearing in nearly seven years.
Today, dozens of prominent organizations and individuals from Texas and across the country called on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry to stop the December 3rd scheduled execution of Scott Panetti, a severely mentally ill man who has suffered from schizophrenia for more than 30 years.
On Thursday, November 6, 2014, the trial court judge in Kerrville, Texas refused to withdraw or modify the December 3, 2014execution date for Scott Panetti. Below is a statement from Kathryn […]
Today, an Emergency Motion for Hearing was filed in state court by attorneys for Scott Panetti, a severely mentally ill man scheduled for execution in Texas on December 3, 2014, asking the State withdraw or modify the execution date so that Mr. Panetti is given a meaningful opportunity to contest his competency for execution. Mr. Panetti has not had a competency hearing in nearly seven years.
Attorneys for Scott Panetti, a man with severe mental illness who has spent nearly 20 years on death row in Texas, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider once again whether he is incompetent to be executed.