Texas has set an exe­cu­tion date of December 3, 2014 for Scott Panetti, a death row inmate with schiz­o­phre­nia and schizoaf­fec­tive dis­or­der. Panetti rep­re­sent­ed him­self at tri­al dressed in a cow­boy out­fit, and attempt­ed to sub­poe­na Jesus Christ and the pope, among many oth­ers. Inmates who are ruled insane are inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion, but Texas offi­cials argue Panetti can be put to death because he sees some con­nec­tion between his crime and his exe­cu­tion. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Panetti’s exe­cu­tion and deter­mined that Texas had not con­sid­ered Panetti’s long his­to­ry of men­tal ill­ness in eval­u­at­ing his com­pe­ten­cy, send­ing the case back for fur­ther review. The low­er courts again found Panetti com­pe­tent, and in October the Court denied a request for recon­sid­er­a­tion of Panetti’s case. Greg Wiercioch, one of Panetti’s attor­neys, remarked, ​“Scott Panetti is not com­pe­tent for exe­cu­tion and there­fore his exe­cu­tion would serve no ret­ribu­tive pur­pose. It is unfor­tu­nate that an exe­cu­tion date has been set. His exe­cu­tion would be a mis­er­able spec­ta­cle.” Prominent nation­al men­tal health experts have called for a halt to the exe­cu­tion. Texas has recent­ly been set­ting exe­cu­tion dates in 2015, but Panetti’s date was pushed ahead of others.

(T. Dart, ​“Texas sets exe­cu­tion date for men­tal­ly ill killer Scott Panetti,” The Guardian, October 30, 2014). See Mental Illness (side­bar) for fur­ther infor­ma­tion about Panetti, includ­ing a video sum­ma­ry of his case from the Texas Defender Service. See also Supreme Court.

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