Death Penalty Competency Analysis

In many death penalty cases, the question of a person’s competency to be executed is raised. Many people, including me before the lecture, do not know that these competency evaluations take place. Competency evaluations for executions were the product of Ford v. Wainwright case in 1986. In 1974, Alfred Bernard Ford attempted to rob a Red Lobster. In his attempt to escape using a police car, he shot and killed a police officer. Ford was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death row. Despite being depressed and addicted to drugs at the time of his conviction, his mental health was normal and stable from his entry to prison until 1982. His mental health proceeded to drastically deteriorate, right before his set execution date. He started have many delusions, ranging from calling himself Pope John Paul II to claiming he had appointed 9 new Florida Supreme Court justices. The U.S. Supreme Court stated that 8th amendment protects the insane from execution and that their execution failed to meet the purposes of the death penalty, such as retribution, punishment, and deterrence. This decision created the standard that the condemned must know and understand …show more content…
This ambiguity came to a head during Panetti v. Quarterman, a Texas case where Scott Panetti shot and killed his wife’s parents. Panetti has an illustrious history of mental illness and was not on his medication at the time of the murders. H exhibited delusional thoughts and erratic behavior due to his schizophrenia. Despite that, he was not found incompetent to stand trial and was found competent enough to represent himself at his trial. He wore a cowboy outfit to the trial as part of his delusional persona, Sarge Ironhorse. His strange behaviors and lack of understanding from the presiding judge led to the jury finding Panetti guilty. He was sentenced to