Amnesty Int'l: Supreme Court Ruling in Scott Panetti Case 'A Much-Needed Step Toward a Humane America'
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 28, 2007
10:42 AM
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CONTACT: Amnesty International
Wende Gozan at 212/633-4247
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Brian Evans at 202/544-0200 x496
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Supreme Court Ruling in Scott Panetti Case 'A Much-Needed Step Toward a Humane America'
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WASHINGTON - JUNE 28 - Amnesty International applauds today's United States Supreme Court ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman, which prevents the execution of a man with severe schizophrenia.
"The Supreme Court has taken a much-needed step toward a more humane America," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "Perhaps now we can recognize that this country's resources would be much better spent improving the mental health system to help ensure that similarly tragic crimes are not committed in the first place."
The Supreme Court decided that the defendant, Scott Panetti, is not "competent" to be executed because of his extensive history of paranoid schizophrenia and his fundamental lack of rational understanding. Panetti, who was convicted of murder, represented himself during trial proceedings. He wore a purple cowboy suit and gave a rambling, nonsensical presentation in his defense in which he subpoenaed John F. Kennedy, Pope John Paul II, Anne Bancroft, and Jesus. Witnesses at the trial described it as a "farce," a "joke," a "circus," and a "mockery." Nevertheless, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Texas sentenced Scott Panetti to death in 1995.
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ford v. Wainwright that executing the "insane" violates the ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Ford identified a constitutional right that already existed in common law: "civilized" societies do not execute individuals who lack the basic capacity to understand why they are being punished."
"Texas needs to recognize that it cannot flout the law as it sees fit," said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of AIUSA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. "The Supreme Court recognizes that someone as severely delusional as Scott Panetti simply should not be executed. Still, protection against the death penalty for those deemed "insane" is arbitrarily applied, woefully inadequate and out of step with most of the world, and that must change. This decision is a small step in the right direction.
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