Important decisions in two North Texas death penalty-related cases were announced last Friday: A State District Judge in Dallas determined that John Battaglia is mentally competent to be executed, while a Tarrant County jury imposed a new death sentence for the first time in more than two years.
Category: severe mental illness
A Brazos County judge recently deemed that Marcus Druery is incompetent to be executed due to evidence of his severe mental illness, which prevents him from understanding why he is being punished. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Druery a stay just days before his scheduled execution on August 1, 2012 and later ordered a competency hearing.
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.
Last night, the State of Texas carried out its seventh execution of the year, putting Derrick Charles to death for the murders of his 15-year-old girlfriend, Myiesha Bennett, her mother […]
Barring intervention by the courts, Derrick Charles is scheduled to be put to death by the State of Texas tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12, 2015. He was convicted of killing his […]
BREAKING: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed the execution of Scott Panetti, who had been scheduled for execution in Texas tonight at 6 p.m. CT. Below is a […]
Breaking: This afternoon, despite widespread support from the country’s and Texas’ leading mental health organizations, dozens of conservative and Evangelical leaders, the American Bar Association and hundreds of other prominent individuals […]
Citing trends which demonstrate an emerging consensus against the use of capital punishment against people with severe mental illness, attorneys for Mr. Panetti today filed for a stay of execution at the U.S. Supreme Court, with a petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the constitutionality of Mr. Panetti’s execution. Mr. Panetti was diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder decades before the crime for which he is scheduled to be executed this Wednesday, December 3rd, in Texas.