On April 11, Texas Judge Wayne Salvant ruled that death row inmate Steven Kenneth Staley could be phys­i­cal­ly forced to take anti-psy­chot­ic med­ica­tion that could ren­der him com­pe­tent enough to be exe­cut­ed. The deci­sion came near­ly two months after the judge stopped Staley’s sched­uled exe­cu­tion fol­low­ing tes­ti­mo­ny from two doc­tors who stat­ed that Staley suf­fers from para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia and is too men­tal­ly ill to be exe­cut­ed. The law requires that Staley be men­tal­ly com­pe­tent before he is exe­cut­ed. Since Staley was placed on death row in 1991, he has been hos­pi­tal­ized near­ly 20 times because he is psy­chot­ic. He has a long his­to­ry of mental illness. 

Staley’s defense attor­ney, Jack Strickland, not­ed that forcibly med­icat­ing his client to exe­cute him is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al and voilates his right to pri­va­cy. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment for states to exe­cute a per­son who is inca­pable of under­stand­ing what is hap­pen­ing to him or why. In 1990, the Court ruled that states can forcibly med­icate inmates in cer­tain cas­es, if the treat­ment is essen­tial for the defen­dan­t’s safe­ty or the safe­ty of oth­ers. The Justices have not ruled on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of forcibly med­icat­ing some­one on death row to make him com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed.

​“Putting doc­tors in the posi­tion… to give (inmates) treat­ment for the sole pur­pose of exe­cut­ing them should not be per­mit­ted. Once some­one has been found to be incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed, that should (change his sen­tence),” not­ed attor­ney Ronald Tabak, who chaired an American Bar Association task force on men­tal ill­ness and the death penal­ty. Judge Salvant’s rul­ing stays Staley’s exe­cu­tion until May 5 to give his defense attor­neys time to appeal the deci­sion. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 11, 2006 and Denver Post, April 13, 2006). See Mental Illness.

Citation Guide