The state of Texas plans to execute a schizophrenic Wisconsin native Thursday, and the only thing that may save this man is a barrage of letters, e-mails and phone calls to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
If Scott Panetti is killed Feb. 5, it would be the 29th execution this year in Texas. Although Panetti is only one of 450 inmates on death row in Texas, this execution is particularly inhumane because Panetti has a serious mental disorder.
Panetti's mental illness is well-documented: He had been in and out of hospitals for over a decade prior to his trial. In 1981, he was involuntarily committed to a Texas hospital. In 1986, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which doctors confirmed at a hospital in Tomah, Wis. He was also diagnosed with depression, brain dysfunction, delusions, auditory hallucinations and homicidal ideation toward his family. Clearly, this man was not healthy.
Yet, after he was arrested for killing his parents-in-law in 1992, a jury in Texas found him competent to stand trial. This hearing occurred after a previous one resulted in a hung jury, in which 10 out of the 12 jurors wanted Panetti found as incompetent. Witnesses described the subsequent trial as a \circus"" and a ""fiasco.""
At the trial, Panetti insisted on defending himself after he fired his lawyers, because he believed they were conspiring to have him killed. During deliberation he wore purple and green cowboy shirts, leather chaps, boots and a cowboy hat tied on with a string. He also called 43 witnesses over the eight-day trial and subpoenaed John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ.
Undoubtedly, Panetti committed a heinous crime. He killed his wife's parents, and his medical history proves that he is a danger to society. But justice will not be served by murdering someone who did not have control of his senses. Before Panetti committed the crime, he had run out of his medication and had no money to refill the prescription-he was obviously not of sound mind. America should take care of its sick, not kill them.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in Ford v. Wainwright that executing the insane amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is barred by the Eighth Amendment. And yet, the Supreme Court refused to hear Panetti's appeal, despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to his insanity.
An international community has sprung up to defend this man. A letter on behalf of the European Union appealing to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, stated ""The E.U. strongly believes that the execution of persons suffering from a mental disorder is contrary to widely accepted human rights norms and is in contradiction to the minimum standards of human rights set forth in several international human rights instruments."" In addition, Amnesty International is working on the case, and the American Civil Liberites Union has sent a team to assist Panetti's lawyers. Even the daughter of the victims, Panetti's former wife, signed an affidavit which declared that Panetti was ""mentally ill and should not be put to death,"" but all this may not be enough.
Time is running out, but there is still a chance to save Scott Panetti. It is not his fault that he is mentally ill, and he should not be killed for it. Emails can be written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (bpp-pio@tdci.state.tx.us), and a petition can be signed at http://www.petitiononline.com/panetti/petition.html. The governor of Texas can also be emailed at http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact or called at (512) 463-2000.
