The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recent­ly held that Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti is sane enough to be exe­cut­ed, despite his long his­to­ry of severe men­tal ill­ness. Panetti was sen­tenced to death for the 1992 mur­der of his in-laws. Putting aside Panetti’s bizarre behav­ior in court, the judge allowed him to rep­re­sent him­self at tri­al, where he wore a pur­ple cow­boy suit and sub­poe­naed Jesus Christ and Anne Bancroft as wit­ness­es. Panetti had been hos­pi­tal­ized 11 times for men­tal illnes pri­or to the mur­ders and had been released only 2 months ear­li­er. In a pre­vi­ous rul­ing, the Fifth Circuit held that Panetti only need­ed to real­ize he had com­mit­ted a crime and was there­fore being exe­cut­ed in order to sat­is­fy the Eighth Amendment’s ban on exe­cut­ing indi­vid­u­als who are insane. The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the pend­ing exe­cu­tion and held that courts should con­sid­er a defen­dan­t’s com­plete men­tal his­to­ry in deter­min­ing whether he has a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of his sit­u­a­tion. Panetti has said his exe­cu­tion is a ruse to hide a satan­ic plot to kill him. The Fifth Circuit relied in part on taped con­ver­sa­tions between Panetti and his fam­i­ly to deter­mine his competency.

(J. Smith, ​“Panetti Sane Enough for Execution,” Austin Chronicle, August 22, 2013; see Panetti v. Stephens, No. 08 – 70015 (5th Cir. Aug. 21, 2013)). See Mental Illness. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Mental Illness.

Citation Guide