June 29, 2007
EXCELLENT, NOW ENFORCE THE NECESSARY COROLLARY:
Supreme Court Blocks Execution of Delusional Killer (RALPH BLUMENTHAL, 6/30/07, NY Times)
Amplifying its ban against execution of the insane, a closely divided United States Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the death sentence of a delusional Texas murderer who insisted that he was being punished for preaching the Gospel.In a rebuke to lower courts, the justices ruled 5 to 4 that the defendant, Scott Louis Panetti, had not been shown to have sufficient understanding of why he was to be put to death for gunning down his wife’s parents in 1992.
The court, acting on the last day of the 2006-7 term, declined to lay out a new standard for competency in capital cases. But it found that existing protections had not been afforded.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy provided the swing vote, joined by the court’s liberal wing: Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
Just as the incompetent ought not be executed for failing to exercise the self-control of which they are incapable, so does society have an obligation to re-institutionalize them for their own safety and that of others. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 29, 2007 7:11 AM
. . . and to execute the competent for voluntarily choosing to commit evil.
Posted by: Mike Morley at June 29, 2007 11:34 AMSins of the grandfather.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 29, 2007 4:03 PMI had thought so. The case, Panetti, dealt with competency to be executed, not responsibility and not even competence to stand trial.
The guy was a major nut job who had been allowed to represent himself. It appears (I didn't read the whole opinion) that the responsibility and trial competence issues are over and done with and all that is left is competence to be executed.
It sounds like a "catch 22": the guy isn't taking his meds, so he's too looney tunes to understand his execution. I daresay a man would have to be nuts to take his pills under those circumstances.
I confess that I do not recall the present state of the law regarding involuntary treatment to restore competence under these circumstances..
Posted by: Lou Gots at June 29, 2007 5:00 PMCeding his incompetence makes the decision easy.
Posted by: oj at June 29, 2007 6:23 PM