Texas wants to medicate death-row inmate

[Judi Lynn]

Texas wants to medicate death-row inmate

AUSTIN, Texas, June 12 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Texas want a schizophrenic on death row forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to execute.

Steven Staley's case could lead to a definitive ruling on the issue, the Dallas Morning News said. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that inmates too mentally ill to understand why they are being executed cannot be put to death, and has ruled that inmates can be forced to take medication in certain circumstances.

But the high court has never ruled on forcing inmates to take medication so that they can be executed, the newspaper said.

"We're going to go after anybody who's been sentenced to death," Chuck Mallin, chief of Tarrant County's appellate division, told the Morning News. "Our position right now is we're not going to warehouse them, we're going to seek to enforce the judgment of the court until the Court of Criminal Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court says we can't."
(snip/...)

http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/18664

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Texas death penalty case headed for possible fourth trial

HOUSTON -- One of the longest and most contentious death penalty cases in Texas is heading back for yet another trial.


The U.S. Supreme Court, acting Monday on an appeal from the Texas Attorney General's Office, refused to reinstate the death sentence of Johnny Paul Penry, clearing the way for another jury to consider punishment for a fourth time. Penry was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing a woman at her home in Livingston in 1979.

Penry turned 50 last month and has spent more than half of his life on death row for the slaying of 22-year-old Pamela Moseley Carpenter. He confessed to attacking the woman and stabbing her with scissors, but his attorneys have contended Penry, who says he believes in Santa Claus, has the reasoning capacity of a 7-year-old.

While psychological tests have put Penry's IQ between 50 and 60, at least five juries have found Penry to be legally competent to stand trial or have rejected defenses based on mental retardation. The high court in 2002 ruled mentally retarded people, generally considered having an IQ below 70, may not be executed.
(snip/...)

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5019866&nav=Bsmh

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Fight looms over meds for condemned man

01:20 AM CDT on Monday, June 12, 2006
By DIANE JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News



Steven Staley

No one disputes that condemned killer Steven Staley is mentally ill.

In 15 years on death row, he has suffered from delusions, lain in his own urine and bruised his own face. He is so sick that prosecutors, defense attorneys and a judge agree he is incompetent to be executed.

For now.

Tarrant County prosecutors are pushing to have the diagnosed schizophrenic forcibly medicated for his illness – enabling him to be executed.
(snip)

The issue has bounced around various states' court systems for years, with some judges ruling that inmates cannot be forcibly medicated just so they can be executed, and others saying they can.

But in Texas, the nation's No. 1 death penalty state, prosecutors haven't pushed the issue. Mentally ill inmates are periodically re-examined for improvement, but some prosecutors opt to let them serve a de facto life sentence.

Tarrant County prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson decided on a different route for Mr. Staley.
(snip/...)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/061206dntexdeathrow.dabc6bc.html

[MadMaddie]

1. Compassionate Conservatives at your service....don't you kill

an embryonic egg....cause that's a life....but medicate a mentally ill man to kill....well that's okay in Gods eyes....:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

2. He sounds really, really ill. I found more on his background prior

to his criminal career:

Staley suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. People diagnosed with such mental disorders frequently have a close biological relative with similar mental illnesses. In Staley's case, his mother had a long history of mental illness. She was hospitalised in a psychiatric hospital on numerous occasions and treated with psychiatric medications and electroconvulsive therapy. Her records document an "acute schizophrenic episode".

From an early age, Staley was exposed to violent and erratic behaviour. His mother attempted to pound a wooden stake through his chest at the age of six or seven and, at a later date, attempted to stab both Staley and his sister with a butcher's knife. On each occasion she was committed to mental health institutions. Staley's father was a severe alcoholic and was killed in a road traffic accident in 1985. His maternal grandfather also committed suicide. Staley, himself, subsequently attempted suicide when he was 16 or 17 and was later placed on suicide precautions during his incarceration.

Following his incarceration, Staley was hospitalized on numerous occasions for psychiatric care. The first instance occurred on June 17, 1994 and lasted for 3 months until his discharge on September 17, 1994. Immediately following this however, Staley was found unresponsive in his cell and subsequently re-admitted on September 21, 1994 for six weeks. He was forcibly medicated despite his refusals. Staley was then diagnosed with major depression with delusional features and schizoid personality disorder with anti-social features.

Staley subsequently refused to co-operate with medical treatment, attend doctor's appointments or attend clinics. This culminated in a nurse being called to his cell to treat a seizure. Staley was then re-hospitalised, during which time he reported feelings of paralysis and audio hallucinations with voices torturing him. Again, he was released and then re-hospitalised, this time, however Staley was catatonic. Subsequent psychiatric evaluations "suggested a psychotic valley which is typical of schizophrenia, paranoid type". Hallucinations, delusions and extreme suspiciousness were noted. He was then discharged.
(snip/...)

http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/illnessSstaley.cfm

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I've never heard of ANYONE coming from this kind of handicap and doing just great. This is truly unbelievable.

[MadMaddie]

5. The man should be put in a facility for the rest of his life...

for crying out loud....not the death penalty....

[oneold1-4u]

7. Have to keep them healthy!

Like dialysis at a cost of 12k each month for years just to be healthy enough to die! Wait a minute! This is in OR where they just cut mileage and hours for senior and disabled home care providers! Now they didn't get more taxes for cigarettes, so they will cut some more!
There has to be a better plan all the way from city, county, and every state right on up to the nations capital and the supreme court!

[daleo]

8. That's a sad case

It is hard to believe he could be found legally responsible for his behavior.

[saigon68]

9. Fundy Christians want to FRY his ass

They pine for the good old days when "Old Sparky" would fry the crap out of people like him. They love the smell of Urine and Feces as 2500 volts of electricity turns him into barbecue.

[daleo]

10. It's ironic that some Christians are so keen on executions

Given that Jesus himself was executed. Of course some Christians don't really take Jesus very seriously, in my estimation.

A man with the mentality of a seven year old that hears terrifying voices in his head can't be considered responsible for his crimes, no matter how bad they were. Probably he should be locked up for life in an insane asylum.

[noel adamson]

13. Old Testament "Christians" of convenience.

They use selected passages, almost exclusivly, from the Old Testament. As Kurt Vonnegut noted they want to post the ten Commandments on the court house walls but never the beatitudes. Of course they don't adhere to the 10 Commandments either. Certainly not the "Thou shalt not kill" one.

[saigon68]

14. These Hateful Christians "Love to KIll"

Black and Brown men

[Nevernose]

3. We're going to kill a retarded schizophrenic?

Out of revenge?

I think maybe the Christian thing to do here would be to show him the kind of mercy he certainly never showed his victim and lock him up for life. Does he deserve to die? Yeah, probably. Should we be the ones doing the killing? No way.

[hlthe2b]

4. God, is there no end to this?

Medicate a mentally ill person, just long enough to call him "technically sane" and execute him. I have to wonder who the mentally ill people really are? Who is more sadistic--a brutal murderer or these asshole wingers?

[MadMaddie]

6. You said it....who is more sadistic.....than the likes of the *

Neocon party......

[Mandate My Ass]

11. they never work so hard on behalf of the mentally ill

when the ultimate object is to put them down like dogs.

[Rex]

12. Want some medication? It will cost you in Texas.

So their going to 'sober up' a retarded convict long enough for him to realize he is getting executed!?!?! Sometimes I'm embarrassed to say I live in Texas. Now is one of those times.

[MnFats]

15. Gawd but they just LOVE death all to hell down there, don't they?

there just aren't enough poor fuckers to keep the execution chamber busy enough to satisfy them, huh?

[They Live]

16. Are they saying...

...there is not a Santa Claus?

[DemExpat]

17. One of the sickest things I've heard yet!

To come out of a society with such wonderful high ideals, compassion and high standards for universal example.... :puke:


:nuke:

DemEx