On May 18th, Texas plans to exe­cute Kelsey Patterson, a men­tal­ly ill man who was first diag­nosed with para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia more than a decade before he mur­dered two women in 1992. After the mur­der, Patterson wan­dered around dressed only in his socks. Although a jury found Patterson com­pe­tent to stand tri­al, he repeat­ed­ly inter­rupt­ed the pro­ceed­ings to offer a ram­bling nar­ra­tive about implant­ed devices and oth­er aspects of a con­spir­a­cy against him. According to a new report from Amnesty International, Patterson’s delu­sions did not allow him to under­stand what was going on or the abil­i­ty to con­sult with his attor­neys. In 2000, a fed­er­al judge echoed the con­cerns that have been raised about Patterson’s case, not­ing, ​“Patterson had no motive for the killings…he claims he com­mits acts invol­un­tar­i­ly and out­side forces con­trol him through implants in his brain and body. Patterson has con­sis­tent­ly main­tained he is a vic­tim of an elab­o­rate con­spir­a­cy, and his lawyers and his doc­tors are part of that con­spir­a­cy. He refus­es to coop­er­ate with either; he has refused to be exam­ined by men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als since 1984, he refus­es den­tal treat­ment, and he refus­es to acknowl­edge that his lawyers rep­re­sent him.” Nevertheless, the judge upheld Patterson’s death sen­tence. The issue of exe­cut­ing the men­tal­ly ill has been raised in Texas on numer­ous occa­sions, most recent­ly in February 2004, when anoth­er men­tal­ly ill man, Scott Panetti, received a 60-day stay of exe­cu­tion short­ly before he was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has repeat­ed­ly called for an end to the use of the death penal­ty against peo­ple with men­tal dis­or­ders. (Amnesty International Press Release, May 18, 2004). Read Amnesty’s Report on Kelsey Patterson. See Mental Illness and the Death Penalty.

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