An hour before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Virginia death row inmate Percy Levar Walton, Governor Tim Kaine (pic­tured) issued a tem­po­rary stay to allow time for an inde­pen­dent inquiry to deter­mine whether Walton is too men­tal­ly ill to be exe­cut­ed. ​“Due to the his­to­ry of judi­cial con­cern about his men­tal sta­tus, the claims in Walton’s clemen­cy peti­tion are enti­tled to seri­ous con­sid­er­a­tion. It would be impru­dent to either pro­ceed with the exe­cu­tion or grant clemen­cy with­out fur­ther review,” Kaine said in a state­ment issued as he ordered Walton’s sched­uled exe­cu­tion be delayed for six months. 

Legal and men­tal health experts have debat­ed Walton’s men­tal ill­ness sta­tus since his cap­i­tal con­vic­tion near­ly a decade ago. During a 2003 hear­ing, Walton mis­stat­ed key facts about his cas­es and repeat­ed­ly gave irra­tional answers when ques­tioned by attor­neys. A psy­chi­a­trist tes­ti­fied at that pro­ceed­ing that Walton believed he would ride a motor­cy­cle to Burger King after he was put to death. Walton’s defense attor­neys not­ed that their client has exhib­it­ed signs of men­tal ill­ness since he was 16 and that his IQ was mea­sured at 66 in 2003. Psychiatrists gen­er­al­ly con­sid­er some­one with an IQ below 70 to be men­tal­ly retard­ed.

Gov. Kaine’s state­ment appears below.

(Washington Post, June 9, 2006). See Mental Illness and Executions.

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
Office of the Governor
Timothy M. Kaine
Governor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2006

Contact: Kevin Hall
Phone: (804) 225‑4260
Cell Phone: (804) 393‑9406
Internet: www​.gov​er​nor​.vir​ginia​.gov

STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR TIMOTHY M. KAINE
~ On the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Percy Levar Walton ~


RICHMOND — Governor Timothy M. Kaine issued the fol­low­ing state­ment on the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Percy Levar Walton by the Commonwealth of Virginia:

​“Percy Levar Walton was con­vict­ed of the mur­ders of Jessie E. Kendrick, Elizabeth W. Kendrick, and Archie D. Moore, Jr. between November 19 and 28, 1996. He killed these three inno­cent peo­ple in their homes * where peo­ple should feel most secure from acts of vio­lence. Mr. Walton admit­ted that he com­mit­ted these hor­rif­ic crimes and, after plead­ing guilty, was sen­tenced to death.

​“Given the nature of these crimes, I have no rea­son to ques­tion the pros­e­cu­tor’s deci­sion to seek the death penal­ty or the judge’s deci­sion that death was an appro­pri­ate sen­tence. In addi­tion to the death sen­tence, Walton was sen­tenced to life sen­tences for each of three rob­bery con­vic­tions, ten years for bur­glary, and three years for each of six firearms con­vic­tions.

​“State and fed­er­al courts have con­sis­tent­ly upheld Walton’s con­vic­tions. However, courts con­sid­er­ing his death sen­tence have strug­gled with the ques­tion of whether his men­tal capac­i­ty impos­es a bar to his exe­cu­tion.

​“It is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute a per­son who is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a per­son must have suf­fi­cient men­tal capac­i­ty to under­stand the pun­ish­ment he is about to suf­fer, and why he is to suf­fer it.

​“A few days before Walton’s sched­uled exe­cu­tion date of May 28, 2003, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia grant­ed Walton a stay of exe­cu­tion in order to deter­mine Walton’s men­tal com­pe­tence. In July 2003, fol­low­ing exten­sive sub­mis­sion of evi­dence about Walton’s men­tal state from 1997 through 2003, the court ruled that he was com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. A three-judge pan­el of appel­late judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacat­ed the low­er court rul­ing, direct­ing a broad­er inquiry into Walton’s men­tal state. Before that inquiry took place, the entire court recon­sid­ered the pan­el’s deci­sion in an en banc review. The en banc Court found Walton com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed by a nar­row 7 – 6 major­i­ty.

​“In issu­ing its rul­ing, the Fourth Circuit prop­er­ly lim­it­ed its con­sid­er­a­tion to the evi­dence before it regard­ing Walton’s men­tal state as of 2003. However, three years have passed since the evi­dence was pre­sent­ed. Walton’s clemen­cy peti­tion presents sig­nif­i­cant infor­ma­tion sug­gest­ing that he has schiz­o­phre­nia, that such a men­tal ill­ness can cause seri­ous dete­ri­o­ra­tion of men­tal com­pe­tence, and that there is more than a min­i­mal chance that Walton no longer knows why he is to be exe­cut­ed or is even aware of the pun­ish­ment he is about to receive. Due to the his­to­ry of judi­cial con­cern about his men­tal sta­tus, the claims in Walton’s clemen­cy peti­tion are enti­tled to seri­ous con­sid­er­a­tion.

​“In order to com­ply with the law for­bid­ding exe­cu­tion of a men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent per­son and to insure just appli­ca­tion of Virginia’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute, it is impor­tant to have cur­rent and inde­pen­dent infor­ma­tion about Walton’s men­tal con­di­tion. It would be impru­dent to either pro­ceed with the exe­cu­tion or grant clemen­cy with­out fur­ther review.

​“Therefore, I have decid­ed to delay Walton’s exe­cu­tion date until December 8, 2006, for the pur­pose of con­duct­ing an inde­pen­dent eval­u­a­tion of his men­tal con­di­tion and com­pe­tence, on terms and con­di­tions pre­scribed by this office.”

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