The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 28, 2007, that Scott Panetti, a man with severe mental illness on Texas’s death row, deserves a rehearing on his claim of mental incompetence. The Court’s 5 – 4 ruling overturned a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that had used an overly restrictive definition of what constitutes insanity. The lower court had held that mere knowledge of one’s crime, without a rational understanding, was sufficient to allow an execution to go forward. The Court also said that the Texas state court failed to provide Panetti with the kind of review guaranteed under the Constitution. The case is Panetti v. Quarterman.
See Supreme Court.
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