On May 28th, Virginia is sched­uled to elec­tro­cute Percy Levar Walton, a Virginia death row inmate who does not know what year it is or that he can­not eat at Burger King once he has been exe­cut­ed. In a pend­ing clemen­cy peti­tion to Virginia Governor Mark Warner and in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Walton’s attor­neys pre­sent­ed expert med­ical evi­dence, includ­ing tests by prison doc­tors, show­ing that their client suf­fers from schiz­o­phre­nia and psy­chosis. They note that prison guards call Walton ​“Horse,” short for ​“Crazy Horse,” and that the guards stay at arms lengths to avoid his stench (a clas­sic symp­tom of schiz­o­phre­nia). In addi­tion to Walton’s men­tal ill­ness, he scored a 66 on a recent IQ test and may be men­tal­ly retard­ed. A per­son with an IQ of 70 or low­er is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered mentally retarded. 

(Associated Press, May 22, 2003) See Mental Retardation and Clemency.

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