(Dec. 3, 2014) Scott Panetti, a man diagnosed with schizophrenia, is set to die Wednesday by lethal injection in Texas for a gruesome double homicide he committed in 1992.
Prior to the murders Panetti had been hospitalized at least a dozen times in just over a decade for hallucinations and delusions related to his severe mental illness.
Following the murder, Panetti drove to the police station and turned himself in claiming that he had acted under the control of a personality called “Sarge.”
“Panetti’s long-standing history of mental illness is undisputed,” writes Sally Satel in Bloomberg (“Don’t execute schizophrenic killers,” Dec. 1).
Throughout the nearly twenty year process of trials, motions and appeals, Panetti has “seemed to lack a rational understanding of his execution: He believed he was being put to death because Satan was working with the state of Texas to stop him from preaching,” Satel said.
Last month, volunteer lawyers for Panetti filed a stay of execution that was denied.
“This is unjust,” Satel implores. “It is wrong to execute, even to punish, people who are so floridly psychotic when they commit their crimes that they are incapable of correcting the errors by logic or evidence.”
We couldn’t agree more. As long as mental illness policy and systems fail to recognize and address this connection with timely and effective treatment, homicide victims and their killers alike will continue dying as a consequence of non-treatment.
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