Marcus Druery (pic­tured) is fac­ing exe­cu­tion in Texas on August 1 even though he has shown clear signs of men­tal incom­pe­tence. The Texas Defender Service recent­ly filed a motion to delay his exe­cu­tion, cit­ing the find­ings of a psy­chol­o­gist who exam­ined Druery ear­li­er this year: ​“His delu­sion­al ideas so per­vade his under­stand­ing of his case that he no longer under­stands that it was him who com­mit­ted the crime, and that he’s the one who has to suf­fer the pun­ish­ment.” Another assess­ment of his men­tal capac­i­ties revealed that he does not adquate­ly under­stand why he is being pun­ished: ​“Because of his inflex­i­ble, psy­chot­ic and delu­sion­al inter­pre­ta­tion of his cir­cum­stances, Mr. Druery does not have the capac­i­ty to ratio­nal­ly under­stand the con­nec­tion between his crime and his pun­ish­ment.” The state has acknowl­edged that Druery suf­fers from delu­sions, schiz­o­phre­nia, ​“thought broad­cast­ing” and audi­to­ry hal­lu­ci­na­tions. However, offi­cials have yet to deter­mine whether his med­ical con­di­tion meets the legal def­i­n­i­tion of insan­i­ty. Kate Black, one of his attor­neys, said, ​“When you have an indi­vid­ual who is so psy­chot­ic that he no longer has an under­stand­ing of what it is he’s being pun­ished for, that lacks the pur­pose for which the death penal­ty was cre­at­ed. The state’s own experts have diag­nosed him as hav­ing para­noid and dis­or­ga­nized schiz­o­phre­nia. He’s been housed in the psy­chi­atric unit. So, they’re well aware of his irra­tional­i­ty, and yet have still sought an exe­cu­tion date in this case.” On July 24, a pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing will be held to deter­mine whether a full com­pe­ten­cy inves­ti­ga­tion is need­ed. UPDATE: On July 24, the coun­ty court denied a full com­pe­ten­cy inves­ti­ga­tion, but did not rule on Druery’s com­pe­ten­cy to be executed.

On July 18, Texas is plan­ning to exe­cute Yokamon Hearn, who suf­fers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and brain dam­age. UPDATE: Execution carried out.

(P. Malof, ​“Court Questions Constitutionality of Upcoming Texas Execution,” Public News Service, July 16, 2012; M. Kiely, ​“Lawyers argue Druery unfit for exe­cu­tion,” Bryan-College Station Eagle, July 14, 2012). See Mental Illness. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Mental Illness.

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