Criminal Law

Coverage of Walton Commutation

Posted on June 10, 2008
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch ("Triple murderer spared from execution by Kaine," June 10, 2008):"Gov. Timothy M. Kaine commuted Percy Levar Walton's death sentences to life without parole yesterday, sparing the triple murderer execution by injection tonight...

Gov. Kaine Grants Clemency to Percy Walton

Posted on June 10, 2008
After years of wrangling in the courts regarding Percy Levar Walton's competency to be executed, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has decided to grant clemency to Walton and commute his sentence to life without the possibility of parole.Here is the Governor's statement in full:"I have carefully considered over the past 24 months the question of whether the Commonwealth can carry out the execution of Percy Levar Walton in a constitutionally permissible manner...

Research on Rates of Violence Among Those with Severe Mental Illness

Posted on June 09, 2008
Here's an op-ed that appeared today in the Wall Street Journal by E. Fuller Torrey, the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC). TAC is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illnesses...

Update on Executions

Posted on June 09, 2008
David Mark Hill was executed by the State of South Carolina on June 6, 2008. He had decided to forego any further appeals. According to Amnesty International USA, Hill had a history of mental illness, including several suicide attempts. The execution of Percy Levar Walton in Virginia is still set for tomorrow, June 10...

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More on Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston

Posted on June 03, 2008
Here's more information on the pilot program designed by Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston, which aims to provide services to those inmates with severe mental illness immediately upon their release from the Harris County Jail. From KUHF-Houston Public Radio News:Health Care For Former Inmates Saves Harris County Money2 June 2008By: Capella TuckerThe Harris County Jail system is said to have one of the best mental health programs...

TN Death Row Inmate Receives Life Sentence

Posted on June 03, 2008
The ACLU Capital Punishment Project reports that Tennessee death row inmate Richard Taylor has received a life sentence, in exchange for pleading guilty to the crime for which he was sentenced to death in 1981. Taylor has a long, documented history of severe mental illness; according to the ACLU, he has been denied psychiatric treatment at various times during his incarceration and was not receiving his anti-psychotic medication at the time of the crime...

Increasing Number of Defendants Found Incompetent to Stand Trial

Posted on June 03, 2008
USA TODAY reports a rise in the number of accused felons who have been found incompetent to stand trial in 10 out of the 12 most populous U.S. states ("Mentally Incompetent Defendants on the Rise"). Interestingly, Texas reported a decline in this number (the article does not provide any explanation for this apparent decline, however)...

Execution Set for SC Offender with Severe Mental Illness

Posted on June 02, 2008
The State of South Carolina has scheduled the execution of David Hill, an inmate with severe mental illness who has decided to waive his appeals. Approximately 129 out of the 1,102 executions since 1977 have involved inmates who decided to forego any further appeals of their cases...

Mental Health & Criminal Justice in Harris County

Posted on May 29, 2008
In Houston, Local 2 Investigative reporter Robert Arnold spent the past six months researching the mental health care system in Harris County. He filed an informative series of reports that explain some of the system's shortcomings (links to the entire series can be found below)...

The Fredericksburg Standard on Scott Panetti

Posted on May 29, 2008
The following article appeared yesterday in the Fredericksburg Standard ("U.S. District Court Judge Rules Panetti Competent," May 28, 2008). Nearly one year after a reprieve was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court for Fredericksburg convicted killer Scott Panetti, 50, the U...

Non-Lawyer Rate for ABA CLE Program

Posted on May 21, 2008
The ABA has announced a special rate of $25 for non-lawyers, including law students, to participate in its CLE teleconference on "Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: New Hope for Those Threatened with Execution." Register now by going to http://www...

Harris County Jury Rejects Death Penalty for Quintero

Posted on May 21, 2008
The Harris County jury that rejected Juan Quintero's insanity defense and found him guilty of capital murder in the death of Officer Rodney Johnson has sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Some jurors cited the mitigating evidence presented by Quintero's defense attorneys in explaining their decision to spare his life...

NAMI Joins with Murder Victims' Family Members in Groundbreaking New Project; Request for Assistance

Posted on May 20, 2008
Murder Victims? Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) have come together to draw attention to the intersection between the death penalty and mental illness from the victims? perspective. MVFHR is an international organization composed of relatives of homicide victims and relatives of people who have been executed, all of whom oppose the death penalty in all cases...

TX Legislative Committees to Hold Hearing

Posted on May 16, 2008
A joint committee hearing involving the House Corrections Committee's subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Illness and the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on Criminal Justice will take place on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM in E1...

Mother with Mental Illness Pleads Guilty

Posted on May 15, 2008
According to the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Catherine Alana Stevens, a woman with a long history of mental illness, has plead guilty to murdering her 2-year-old son, William. ("Stevens Found Guilty Of Son?s Murder," May 10, 2008) Charged with capital murder, Stevens faced the death penalty at one point...

TX Dept. of State Health Services Awards $25 Million in Grants

Posted on May 15, 2008
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has awarded $25 million in new funding to 17 local mental health centers for community-based crisis mental health services.A total of $21.4 million has been granted to 14 local mental health centers to establish or enhance psychiatric emergency service centers or other facilities that will divert mentally ill patients from hospitals or jails by treating them efficiently in more appropriate settings...

Pilot Crisis Intervention Project in Houston

Posted on May 14, 2008
According to the Houston Chronicle, ("Mental health experts, HPD team up to help patients," May 13, 2008), the Houston Police Department has developed a new pilot program aimed at defusing crisis situations involving people with mental illness.Here's the article:"Mental health professionals are riding alongside Houston police in a six-month pilot program designed to help defuse crisis situations involving unstable people, officials said...

Upcoming Event in New York

Posted on May 14, 2008
Here's a great opportunity for folks in New York City to learn more about the issues surrounding mental illness and the death penalty and to hear from an outstanding panel of experts:"Mental Illness & the Death Penalty"Sponsored by the New York City Bar Association42 West 44th Street, New York, NYThursday, May 29, 2008, 6:30 P...

Educational Opportunity for Lawyers

Posted on May 14, 2008
ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education presents...Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: New Hope for Those Threatened with Execution A 90-Minute Teleconference and Live Audio WebcastTuesday, June 3, 20081-2:30 PM EDT (Noon-1:30 PM CDT11 AM-12:30 PM MDT 10-11:30 AM PDT)The American Bar Association has adopted ground-breaking policies that it believes should apply to the consideration of mental illness in the context of the death penalty...

NAMI Advocate Speaks about the Death Penalty

Posted on May 14, 2008
The Equal Justice Edition, a newsletter from Equal Justice USA, features the following quote from Kathleen Bayes, whose husband struggled with mental illness. Bayes is the Executive Director of NAMI Fort Wayne, in Indiana. "The death penalty is often given in cases of particularly violent or baseless crimes...

Execution Date Set for Percy Walton

Posted on May 12, 2008
The Commonwealth of Virginia has set an execution date of June 10, 2008 for Percy Levar Walton, a severely mentally ill man who believes that he will come back to life after the execution and whose intellectual functioning appears to be significantly impaired...

Quintero Found Guilty

Posted on May 09, 2008
A Harris County jury has found Juan Leonardo Quintero guilty of capital murder in the death of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson ("Quintero convicted of capital murder in death of HPD officer," May 8, 2008). The case now moves to the sentencing phase, where jurors will decided whether to sentence Quintero to life in prison without the possibility of parole or to give him the death penalty...

Defense Argues Quintero Is Insane

Posted on May 07, 2008
Here's an update from the Houston Chronicle on the capital murder trial of Juan Quintero ("Experts clash over Quintero's sanity," May 6, 2008): "Attorneys locked horns Tuesday in a battle of experts in the death penalty trial of Juan Leonardo Quintero, arguing whether the 34-year-old was insane when he shot Houston police officer Rodney Johnson in 2006...

New Grant for Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense

Posted on May 05, 2008
The State Justice Institute has awarded the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense $90,000 to analyze how three Texas counties -- Dallas, Tarrant, and Travis -- serve defendants with mental illness, in order to determine whether a statewide process should be implemented...

NAMIWalks for the Mind of America

Posted on May 05, 2008
This past Saturday, May 3, 2008, more than 20 members of the Houston chapter of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty participated in the Houston NAMIWalks for the Mind of America, an annual awareness-raising program of the National Alliance on Mental Illness...

Another Mother Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Posted on May 02, 2008
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Valeria Maxon, who has been diagnosed with "bipolar disorder, most recent episode depressed with psychotic features," was found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) in the drowning death of her son Alex ("Mansfield mom ruled insane in boy's death," May 2, 2008)...

Mental Health Month

Posted on May 02, 2008
May is Mental Health Month. According to Mental Health America (MHA), Mental Health Month was created more than 50 years ago to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of mental wellness. This year?s theme focuses on an essential component of maintaining and protecting mental health and wellness: social connectedness...

Update on Juan Quintero Case

Posted on April 30, 2008
The death penalty trial of Juan Leonardo Quintero began in Harris County on Monday, April 28, 2008. According to the Houston Chronicle ("DA rejects plea for illegal immigrant who shot officer," April 27, 2008), Quintero had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without the possible of parole for the 2006 shooting of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson...

New Model for Legal Representation Under Consideration in West Texas

Posted on April 30, 2008
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that more advances in legal representation are in the works for West Texas ("Lubbock County commissioners seek grant for mental health defense system", April 26, 2008). Last year, state and local leaders created the West Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Murder Cases, the only office of its kind in Texas...

Harris County Jail Maxed Out

Posted on April 04, 2008
The Houston Chronicle reports that the Harris County Jail now holds 1,000 people beyond its capacity ("Harris County Jail filled beyond capacity," April 1, 2008). People with mental illness account for a large percentage of those currently incarcerated, as do the chronically homeless...

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