A Texas court has found that a severe­ly men­tal­ly ill death-row inmate, Marcus Druery (pic­tured), is incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. Druery’s attor­neys pre­sent­ed more than 150 pages of reports from men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als argu­ing that, as a result of major men­tal ill­ness, Druery does not under­stand why he is being pun­ished, mak­ing it uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute him. His ​“para­noid and grandiose delusions…deprive him of a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of the con­nec­tion between his crime and pun­ish­ment,” one expert wrote. On April 4, the court agreed. Prosecutors did not con­test Druery’s claims of incom­pe­ten­cy, but retain the right to peti­tion for recon­sid­er­a­tion in the future if Druery’s men­tal state changes. Kate Black, one of Druery’s attor­neys, said, ​“The state has the duty to make cer­tain it does not vio­late the Constitution by exe­cut­ing an indi­vid­ual, like Mr. Druery, who suf­fers from a psy­chot­ic dis­or­der that ren­ders him incom­pe­tent for exe­cu­tion. We are pleased that they have tak­en that duty seri­ous­ly.” Druery has long suf­fered from delu­sions and a psy­chot­ic dis­or­der that doc­tors have con­sis­tent­ly char­ac­ter­ized as a form of schiz­o­phre­nia. In 2009, his men­tal ill­ness became so severe that he was trans­ferred to a prison psy­chi­atric unit. State doc­tors who have exam­ined him since have con­sis­tent­ly diag­nosed him as delu­sion­al. An exe­cu­tion date was set for Druery in 2012, but he was grant­ed a stay and, lat­er, a com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing, which led to Monday’s decision.

(J. Walker, ​“Inmate spared exe­cu­tion: Lawyers agree on Druery’s men­tal incom­pe­tence,” The Bryan-College Station Eagle, April 6, 2016; A. Cohen, ​“Will Texas Execute a Psychotic Man?,” The Atlantic, July 30, 2012.) See Mental Illness.

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