Mentally Ill Prisoners Who Were Executed

This is not an exhaustive list.

Cecil Clayton was executed on March 17, 2015, in Missouri. 

He was 74, suf­fered from demen­tia, had an IQ of 71, was miss­ing a sig­nif­i­cant part of his brain due to an acci­dent. His attor­neys insist­ed he should be spared because he did not under­stand the pun­ish­ment to be car­ried out. Clayton sus­tained a brain injury in a sawmill acci­dent in 1972, requir­ing removal of about 20% of his frontal lobe, which is involved in impulse con­trol, prob­lem solv­ing, and social behav­ior. After the acci­dent, Clayton began expe­ri­enc­ing vio­lent impuls­es, schiz­o­phre­nia, and extreme para­noia, which became so severe that he checked him­self into a men­tal hos­pi­tal out of fear he could not con­trol his tem­per. In 1983, Dr. Douglas Stevens, a psy­chi­a­trist, exam­ined Clayton and con­clud­ed, ​“There is present­ly no way that this man could be expect­ed to func­tion in the world of work. Were he pushed to do so he would become a dan­ger both to him­self and to oth­ers. He has had both sui­ci­dal and homi­ci­dal impuls­es, so far con­trolled, though under pres­sure they would be expect­ed to exac­er­bate.” In the past decade, six psy­chi­atric eval­u­a­tions have found that Clayton should be exempt from exe­cu­tion because he does not under­stand that he will be exe­cut­ed, or the rea­sons for his exe­cu­tion. However, since his exe­cu­tion date was set, he did not have a com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing before a judge that could spare him from exe­cu­tion. An image of Cecil Clayton’s brain obtained via MRI can be viewed here. The image shows the front left part of his brain is physically missing. 

(T. Williams, ​“Lawyers Seek Reprieve for Killer Who Lost Part of His Brain Decades Earlier,” New York Times, March 7, 2015; T. Rizzo, ​“Missouri lawyers say man on death row is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent because of sawmill acci­dent,” Kansas City Star, Mar. 8, 2015).

Andrew Brannan, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, was executed in Georgia on January 13, 2015. 

Brannan’s attor­neys asked the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemen­cy because Brannan suf­fers from post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der and bipo­lar dis­or­der. A police video from the crime scene illus­trat­ed Brannan’s errat­ic behav­ior. Joe Loveland, one of Brannan’s attor­neys, said, ​“There was a direct con­nec­tion between his ser­vice in Vietnam and the vio­lence that he was exposed to there and the ulti­mate events that occurred here. The basic ques­tion real­ly is, should a 66-year-old Vietnam War vet­er­an with no pri­or crim­i­nal record and who was 100 per­cent dis­abled under the DA stan­dards, both with PTSD and bipo­lar dis­or­der, at the time of the mur­der of the deputy sher­iff – should that per­son be executed?” 

(Q. Lawrence, ​“Lawyers Try To Fight Death Penalty With New PTSD Understanding,” NPR inter­view, January 6, 2015).

John Middleton was executed on July 16, 2014 in Missouri. 

On July 15, a fed­er­al judge in Missouri stayed the exe­cu­tion of John Middleton, less than 24 hours before it was to occur. The judge was con­cerned that Middleton might be men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent, and hence inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion: ​“Middleton has pro­vid­ed evi­dence that he has been diag­nosed with a vari­ety of men­tal-health dis­or­ders and has received a num­ber of psy­chi­atric med­ica­tions over the years,” Judge Catherine Perry wrote in her order stay­ing the exe­cu­tion. “[Other] inmates indi­cate that he fre­quent­ly talks to peo­ple who are not there and tells sto­ries that could not have had any basis in real­i­ty.” Middleton’s attor­neys have also intro­duced new evi­dence to sup­port his claim of inno­cence. An expert wit­ness who sup­port­ed the pros­e­cu­tion’s case at tri­al has now said the mur­der most like­ly took place when Middleton was in jail in anoth­er state. Kay Parish, an attor­ney for Middleton, said, ​“Part of the rea­son we don’t exe­cute peo­ple with men­tal deficits is that they have more dif­fi­cul­ty nav­i­gat­ing the sys­tem. And I think that’s very true in this case, and I think that’s why he had trou­ble in the past in get­ting lawyers or any­one to lis­ten to his claim of inno­cence or look at this evidence.”

(C. McDaniel, ​“After Delays, Missouri Carries Out Sixth Execution This Year,” St. Louis Public Radio, July 16, 2014).

John Ferguson was executed on August 5, 2013 in Florida.

Ferguson suf­fered from severe men­tal ill­ness for more than four decades. As far back as 1965, Ferguson was found to expe­ri­ence visu­al hal­lu­ci­na­tions. He was sent to men­tal insti­tu­tions and was diag­nosed as para­noid schiz­o­phrenic, delu­sion­al, and aggres­sive. In 1975, a men­tal health doc­tor described Ferguson as ​“dan­ger­ous and can­not be released under any cir­cum­stances.” Nevertheless, he was released less than a year lat­er. Ferguson believes he is the ​“Prince of God” and is being exe­cut­ed so can save the world. Ferguson’s attor­neys recent­ly filed a peti­tion with the U.S. Supreme Court, assert­ing that Florida courts have applied the wrong stan­dard for men­tal com­pe­ten­cy, ignor­ing the cur­rent inter­pre­ta­tion of this issue by the High Court, which requires that an inmate have a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of why he is being exe­cut­ed. An ear­li­er edi­to­r­i­al in the Tampa Bay Times oppos­ing Ferguson’s exe­cu­tion, agreed, ​“Florida is embrac­ing an inter­pre­ta­tion of com­pe­ten­cy for exe­cu­tion so pinched that it would vir­tu­al­ly extin­guish lim­its on exe­cut­ing the severe­ly men­tal­ly ill. The state says Ferguson is aware that he is being put to death and that he com­mit­ted mur­der, and is there­fore com­pe­tent to be executed.” 

(“Florida Man Who Killed 8 Scheduled For Execution Today,” Associated Press, July 24, 2013; Editorial Board, ​“State should­n’t exe­cute severe­ly men­tal­ly ill killer,” Tampa Bay Times, November 2012).

Garry Allen was executed in Oklahoma on November 6, 2012.

This was the third date set for him in 2012. Allen’s exe­cu­tion has been stayed repeat­ed­ly due to ques­tions about his men­tal com­pe­tence. He had been diag­nosed with schiz­o­phre­nia as well as demen­tia caused by seizures, drug abuse, and a gun­shot wound to his head sus­tained dur­ing his arrest. In 2008, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board rec­om­mend­ed that his death sen­tence be com­mut­ed by a 4 – 1 vote. Governor Mary Fallin grant­ed a stay in order to con­sid­er the Board’s rec­om­men­da­tion, but denied clemen­cy. Allen mur­dered his wife 26 years ago, after she had left him and tak­en their two children.

(R. Petersen, ​“Oklahoma death row inmate set for exe­cu­tion, again,” McAlester News-Capital, November 4, 2012).

Robert Moorman was executed in Arizona on February 29, 2012.

Moorman’s lawyers argued that he was men­tal­ly dis­abled and was sex­u­al­ly abused through­out child­hood and into adult­hood. Prosecutors said Moorman’s men­tal capac­i­ty at the time of his crime was just above the legal thresh­old for mental impairment. 

(AP, 2/​29/​12)

Edwin Turner was executed in Mississippi on Feb. 8, 2012.

Turner’s attor­ney, Jim Craig, peti­tioned the U.S. Supreme Court and Governor Phil Bryant for a reprieve, based in part on Turner’s men­tal ill­ness. Craig said, ​“The Supreme Court has not decid­ed the ques­tion of whether a pris­on­er with a severe men­tal dis­or­der or dis­abil­i­ty which sig­nif­i­cant­ly impairs that person’s abil­i­ty to ratio­nal­ly process infor­ma­tion, to make rea­son­able judg­ments and to con­trol their impuls­es, whether peo­ple in that cat­e­go­ry can be exe­cut­ed. So we’re ask­ing the Supreme Court to estab­lish that it would be con­trary to con­sen­sus of moral val­ues, that it would be cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, to exe­cute some­one with severe men­tal ill­ness.” Turner had a long fam­i­ly his­to­ry of men­tal ill­ness: his great-grand­moth­er and grand­moth­er were com­mit­ted to state hos­pi­tals. Turner’s moth­er attempt­ed sui­cide twice, and his father was killed in an explo­sion that some believe was a sui­cide. Turner also attempt­ed sui­cide sev­er­al times, includ­ing one instance that left his face permanently disfigured. 

(J. Eng, ​“Too crazy to kill? Lawyers try to stop exe­cu­tion of inmate they say is men­tal­ly ill,” MSNBC, February 2, 2012).

Daniel Lee Bedford was executed in Ohio on May 17, 2011.

The Supreme Court refused to block Bedford’s exe­cu­tion, despite his lawyers’ claims that he suf­fered from demen­tia and was­n’t com­pe­tent enough to under­stand why he was being executed. 

(AP, 5/​17/​11)

Frank Spisak was executed in Ohio on February 17, 2011.

Spisak was exe­cut­ed for the mur­ders of three men and was char­ac­ter­ized as a Nazi sym­pa­thiz­er. After his exe­cu­tion, his lawyers said ​“The media will focus on the ​‘nazi’ pro­pa­gan­da of the prosecution…the truth is [Spisak] was seri­ous­ly men­tal­ly ill and com­mit­ted the crimes because of this men­tal ill­ness, not because of hate.” 

(Cleveland Plain-Dealer, 2/​17/​11)

Cal Coburn Brown was executed in Washington on September 10, 2010.

Mr. Brown had been diag­nosed with bipo­lar dis­or­der. He asked for a stay of exe­cu­tion on the grounds that, with­out his med­ica­tion, he would be incom­pe­tent to be executed.

Information on his case from the Washington Attorney General

Jack Trawick was executed in Alabama on June 11, 2009.

Mr. Trawick had been treat­ed for schiz­o­phre­nia and psy­chot­ic dis­or­ders since the age of 11. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, ​“the iso­la­tion and lack of stim­u­la­tion of incar­cer­a­tion proved help­ful in per­mit­ting him to func­tion with less para­noia and few­er psychotic episodes.”
Statement on the case from the Equal Justice Initiative

Mark Bailey was executed in Virginia on July 22, 2004.

A clin­i­cal psy­chol­o­gist tes­ti­fied that Bailey suf­fered from bipo­lar dis­or­der, which is char­ac­ter­ized by impul­sive acts. During his tri­al, he was giv­en large dos­es of lithi­um, which had a seda­tive effect on him. Jury mem­bers stat­ed that his lack of emo­tion at tri­al, like­ly caused by his med­ica­tion, con­tributed to their deci­sion to sen­tence him to death.

More infor­ma­tion from the Clark County, IN prosecutor

Kelsey Patterson was executed on May 18, 2004 in Texas despite a 5 – 1 recommendation by the Parole Board for Clemency.

Mr. Patterson suf­fered from para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia, and believed that elec­tron­ic devices had been implant­ed in his body and were controlling him.

Amnesty International Press Release Summarizing Patterson’s Case
In-Depth Amnesty International Article on Kelsey Patterson
Austin American-Statesman Editorial on Patterson and Mentally Ill Defendants

Charles Singleton was executed on January 6, 2004 in Arkansas.

Singleton stopped tak­ing med­ica­tion in 1997 and became psy­chot­ic, believ­ing that his vic­tim was still alive and that his jail cell was inhab­it­ed by demons. He was then forcibly med­icat­ed, prompt­ing a series of appeals that cul­mi­nat­ed with an 8^th Circuit Court rul­ing that he could be forced to take drugs that made him sane enough to be executed.

Singleton v. Norris (No. 00 – 1492) (8^th Circuit Decision). Singleton was forcibly med­icat­ed to make him sane enough for execution.
​“Condemned Prisoner Treated and Executed,” by Alan A. Stone, MD; from Psychiatric Times, March 2004.

James Willie Brown was executed in Georgia on November 4, 2003.

Mr. Brown’s schiz­o­phre­nia cause him to expe­ri­ence hal­lu­ci­na­tions and believe that voic­es of God and demons direct­ed his actions. He was admit­ted to Central State Hospital sev­er­al times, begin­ning in 1968. After being arrest­ed in 1975 for the mur­der of Brenda Watson, Brown was diag­nosed as para­noid schiz­o­phrenic, and was treat­ed for 5 years before being ruled com­pe­tent to stand trial.

Report on the case from the International Justice Project

James Colburn was executed on March 26, 2003 in Texas.

Colburn had a long his­to­ry of men­tal ill­ness. He said that, at the time of the mur­der, ​“I was just in a bad state of mind. I was under­go­ing bad influ­ences — voic­es, illu­sions — that were fuel­ing my paranoia.”

Amnesty International Report

Monty Delk was executed in Texas on February 28, 2002.

Delk’s lawyer claimed that Delk had become insane while on death row, describ­ing Delk’s behav­ior as ​“long peri­ods of psy­chot­ic thought punc­tu­at­ed by grandiose delu­sions, inco­her­ent ram­blings, and smear­ing him­self with his own feces, inter­spersed with brief moments of lucid­i­ty and compliance.”

More infor­ma­tion from the Texas Execution Information Center

James Johnson was executed in Missouri on January 9, 2002.

Johnson, a Vietnam War vet­er­an, suf­fered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His appeals claimed inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel because his tri­al lawyer failed to inter­view pros­e­cu­tion wit­ness­es and pre­sent­ed inac­cu­rate evi­dence, which destroyed the cred­i­bil­i­ty of Johnson’s PTSD defense.

More infor­ma­tion from the Clark County, IN prosecutor

Dion Smallwood was executed in Oklahoma on January 18, 2001.

During Smallwood’s clemen­cy hear­ing, Dr. Patricia Fleming, a psy­chol­o­gist, tes­ti­fied that she had diag­nosed Smallwood with bipo­lar dis­or­der 5 years after the mur­der of Lois Frederick.

More infor­ma­tion from the Clark County, IN prosecutor

Thomas Provenzano was executed in Florida on June 20, 2000.

Provenzano’s lawyers sought a delay of his exe­cu­tion in order to allow a psy­chi­a­trist to deter­mine his com­pe­ten­cy to be exe­cut­ed. Provenzano suf­fered from delu­sions, includ­ing the belief that he was Jesus Christ, and that he was being exe­cut­ed because peo­ple hate Jesus.

CBS News sto­ry on Provenzano

Roger Berget was executed in Oklahoma on June 8, 2000.

Berget suf­fered a severe head injury at the age of 14, and had been diag­nosed with bipo­lar dis­or­der. He attempt­ed sui­cide short­ly before his sen­tenc­ing hear­ing, but his lawyer failed to present evi­dence of Berget’s men­tal ill­ness, say­ing that ​“I sim­ply did not under­stand the impor­tance of men­tal health evi­dence to present a full picture…this entire area was left uninvestigated.”

Amnesty International Report on Berget

Larry Robison was executed on January 21, 2000 in Texas.

Robison was diag­nosed with schiz­o­phre­nia, and main­tained that the mur­der for which he was con­vict­ed was the result of audi­to­ry and visual hallucinations.

Amnesty International Report

Manny Babbitt was executed on May 4, 1999 in California.

Babbitt served in the Vietnam War and suf­fered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after return­ing home. He said he did not remem­ber killing 78-year-old Leah Schendel.

New York Times Magazine arti­cle on the case by Manny’s broth­er, Bill Babbitt