UPDATE: Ferguson was exe­cut­ed on Aug. 5. Florida has set an August 5 exe­cu­tion date for John Ferguson, a death row inmate who has 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.”

(“Scott Sets New Date For Executing Mass Killer,” Associated Press, July 24, 2013; Editorial Board, ​“State should­n’t exe­cute severe­ly men­tal­ly ill killer,” Tampa Bay Times, November 2012; Read Ferguson’s peti­tion to U.S. Supreme Court). See American Bar Association’s ami­cus brief on behalf of Ferguson.

See Mental Illness and Arbitrariness. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Mental Illness.

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