Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti

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Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti

Scott Panetti is schizophrenic and is currently on death row in Texas. The U.S.... Supreme Court heard Scott's case in mid April and is expected to hand down their decision on Thursday June 28th.The high court has long held that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute the insane. In Scott Panetti's case the justices are examining whether it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute a person who does not fully understand the reason he is to be put to death. Scott Panetti thinks Texas wants to kill him because it is in cahoots with the devil. The devil, he theorizes, wants to stop him from preaching the gospel.Scott Panetti was tried for the capital murder of Joe Alvarado and Amanda Alvarado, his parents-in-law on September 8, 1992 in Gillespie County, Texas. At his trial, he fired his attorney and represented himself. He flipped a coin to decide on whether to keep a potential juror on his panel. Wearing a purple cowboy suit and mimicking a John Wayne character called the Ringo Kid, he blamed the shootings on another personality named Sarge. As evidence, he tried to subpoena Jesus Christ, the Pope, and John F. Kennedy.He was subsequently sentenced to death on September 22, 1995. Panetti has an extensive history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Panetti was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily for mental illness fourteen times in six different hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992. Following his conviction, Panettis former wife, and daughter of the victims, Sonja Alvarado, filed a petition stating that Panetti never should have been tried for the crimes as he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings.This video was produced in early 2007 with the Texas Defender Service. For more information about the case please visit:http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/illnessSPanetti.cfm

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