Texas Board Recommends Clemency on Eve of Execution

On the eve of the Kelsey Patterson’s scheduled execution in Texas, the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5 – 1 to recommend that Governor Rick Perry commute Patterson’s death sentence to life in prison. In its rare recommendation for clemency, the Board noted that if Governor Perry refuses to grant clemency, Patterson, a mentally ill man who is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, May 18^th, should receive a 120-day reprieve. The Board’s actions mark the first time in more than two decades that members have recommended a commutation to the governor at such a late state in a condemned inmate’s case. Patterson has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who, in the years leading up to his capital murder conviction, was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial on unrelated charges. His impending execution renewed the question of whether it is proper to execute someone who is mentally ill when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally retarded. (Associated Press, May 18, 2004) UPDATE: Despite the recommendation of the Pardons and Paroles Board, Governor Perry denied the clemency request, and Patterson was executed on May 18, 2004. See Clemency. See Mental Illness. Read Amnesty International’s Report on Kelsey Patterson.