Arkansas Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Death-Penalty Mental Competency Law

A divid­ed Arkansas Supreme Court has struck down the state’s death-penal­ty men­tal com­pe­ten­cy law, hold­ing that statu­to­ry pro­vi­sions giv­ing the state’s prison direc­tor exclu­sive author­i­ty to deter­mine a death-row prisoner’s com­pe­ten­cy to be exe­cut­ed vio­late due process. The 4 – 3 rul­ings on November 1, 2018 were a vic­to­ry for two men­tal­ly ill death-row pris­on­ers, Bruce Ward (pic­tured, left) and Jack Greene (pic­tured, right), who had come with­in days of exe­cu­tion in 2017. The appeals court direct­ed the Arkansas tri­al courts to con­duct hear­ings to deter­mine the men’s men­tal sta­tus and their com­pe­ten­cy to be executed.

Ward, who has been diag­nosed with para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia, was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on Monday, April 17, 2017. A Pulaski County tri­al court had denied his motion for a hear­ing to deter­mine his com­pe­ten­cy to be exe­cut­ed, say­ing it had no legal author­i­ty to rule on the issue. The state supreme court stayed Ward’s exe­cu­tion on April 14 to decide whether coun­sel should be per­mit­ted to lit­i­gate Ward’s com­pe­ten­cy to be exe­cut­ed. Greene suf­fers from psy­chot­ic delu­sions and, accord­ing to court plead­ings, believes that his attor­neys and prison offi­cials are con­spir­ing to tor­ture him. His delu­sions include that ​“his spinal cord has been removed and his cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem has been destroyed,” in response to which, his lawyers say, Greene ​“con­stant­ly twist[s] his body and stuff[s] his ear and nose with toi­let paper to cope with the pain.” Arkansas had sched­uled his exe­cu­tion for November 9, but the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed a stay on November 7 to resolve whether the state’s mech­a­nism to deter­mine com­pe­ten­cy was constitutional.

The court’s two rul­ings deter­mined that Arkansas’s com­pe­ten­cy law vio­lat­ed the two pris­on­ers’ rights to due process under both the United States and Arkansas con­sti­tu­tions. The statute, Chief Justice John Kemp wrote, failed to ​“pro­vide for an evi­den­tiary hear­ing that com­ports with the fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of due process,” as set forth in the U.S. Supreme Court’s com­pe­ten­cy deci­sions in Ford v. Wainwright and Panetti v. Quarterman. John C. Williams, a fed­er­al pub­lic defend­er rep­re­sent­ing the inmates, told Associated Press that the defense was ​“pleased the court held the statute uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, and we look for­ward to lit­i­gat­ing our clients’ competence.”

Ward also argued that his exe­cu­tion after a quar­ter cen­tu­ry in death-row soli­tary con­fine­ment would con­sti­tute cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment pro­hib­it­ed by the Eighth Amendment. The court reject­ed that claim. 

(John Moritz, Arkansas death-penal­ty law ruled ille­gal; com­pe­ten­cy deter­mi­na­tion denies due process, jus­tices find, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 2, 2018; Max Brantley, Split Supreme Court allows con­demned inmates’ com­pe­ten­cy chal­lenges to go for­ward, Arkansas Times, November 1, 2018; Thomas DeLorenzo, Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down men­tal com­pe­ten­cy sec­tion of state’s death penal­ty, The Jurist, November 1, 2018; Andrew DeMillom, Arkansas court strikes men­tal com­pe­ten­cy law for exe­cu­tions, Associated Press, November 1, 2018.) Read the Arkansas Supreme Court deci­sions in the cas­es of Ward and Greene. See Mental Illness.