On September 26, Florida Governor Rick Scott (pic­tured) agreed to tem­porar­i­ly stay the pend­ing exe­cu­tion of John Errol Ferguson in order to allow time for a pan­el of psy­chi­a­trists to deter­mine whether Ferguson is men­tal­ly com­pe­tent. The day before, evan­gel­i­cal lead­ers, includ­ing Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor of the 15,000-member Northland Church in Central Florida, sent a let­ter to the gov­er­nor urg­ing that Ferguson be allowed to live. They wrote, ​“The State’s psy­chi­a­trists have con­sis­tent­ly found, over 40 years, that Mr. Ferguson suf­fers from severe schiz­o­phre­nia and men­tal impair­ment. Now a senior cit­i­zen, he still suf­fers from delu­sions and hallucinations.…The jurors at Mr. Ferguson’s sen­tenc­ing hear­ings did not hear evi­dence of his extreme and long-term men­tal ill­ness, the hor­rif­ic abuse he expe­ri­enced as a child, or the trau­mat­ic brain injury he suf­fered as a result of a gun­shot wound to his head as a young man, which fur­ther con­tributed to his men­tal ill­ness. Any one of these fac­tors might have per­suad­ed his juries to spare his life and sen­tence him to life in prison, but his attor­neys failed to present any mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence to the jurors.” The let­ter con­clud­ed, ​“Our sys­tem must be humane and hold life sacred, while tak­ing every step pos­si­ble to sup­port and facil­i­tate the heal­ing of victims.”

As far back as 1965, state psy­chi­a­trists have expressed con­cerns about Ferguson’s men­tal health and advised that he receive long-term treat­ment. Ferguson is now 64 years old. He was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death for mur­der­ing six peo­ple in a drug-relat­ed crime com­mit­ted in 1977. He was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on October 16. The exe­cu­tion could still go for­ward if he is found men­tal­ly com­pe­tent in the hear­ing on October 1. 

(“South Florida mass mur­der­er grant­ed tem­po­rary exe­cu­tion stay,” Associated Press, September 26, 2012; Full text of Evangelical Leaders’ Letter). See Mental Illness. Read more New Voices.

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