(Click to enlarge). On November 12, the American Psychiatric Association, Mental Health America, 30 for­mer judges, pros­e­cu­tors, and Attorneys General, 50 evan­gel­i­cal faith lead­ers, and the American Bar Association joined many oth­ers in call­ing on Texas Governor Rick Perry to com­mute the sen­tence of death row inmate Scott Panetti because of his severe men­tal ill­ness. Despite his long his­to­ry of hos­pi­tal­iza­tion in men­tal insti­tu­tions, Panetti is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on December 3. Panetti is a para­noid schiz­o­phrenic who rep­re­sent­ed him­self at tri­al dressed in a cow­boy cos­tume, and attempt­ed to sub­poe­na over 200 peo­ple, includ­ing Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy, and the Pope. A let­ter of sup­port signed by 30 law enforce­ment offi­cials said, ​“We come togeth­er from across the par­ti­san and ide­o­log­i­cal divide and are unit­ed in our belief that, irre­spec­tive of whether we sup­port or oppose the death penal­ty, this is not an appro­pri­ate case for exe­cu­tion.” Fifty evan­gel­i­cal Christian lead­ers signed a let­ter say­ing, ​“The exe­cu­tion of Scott Panetti would be a cru­el injus­tice that would serve no con­struc­tive pur­pose what­so­ev­er. When we inflict the harsh­est pun­ish­ment on the severe­ly men­tal­ly ill, whose cul­pa­bil­i­ty is great­ly dimin­ished by their debil­i­tat­ing con­di­tions, we fail to respect their innate dig­ni­ty as human beings.”

In their clemen­cy peti­tion, Panetti’s attor­neys said, ​“The case of Scott Louis Panetti is a judi­cial dis­as­ter that has attract­ed nation­al and inter­na­tion­al out­rage – and for good rea­son. Evidence of his incom­pe­ten­cy runs like a fis­sure through every pro­ceed­ing in his case – from arraign­ment to execution…The exe­cu­tion of Scott Panetti would cross a moral line.”

(“Too Mentally Ill for Execution: The Scott Panetti Case,” Press Release, Texas Defender Service, November 12, 2014). See Mental Illness and New Voices. Watch a video (see side­bar) about Panetti’s life and family.

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