Texas Puts Mentally Ill Killer to Death

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=8&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_us/texas_execution

A mentally ill killer was executed Tuesday evening after Gov. Rick Perry rejected a parole board's highly unusual recommendation to commute his death sentence or delay the execution.

Kelsey Patterson, 50, also lost an appeal to the Supreme Court in the hour before he was put to death.

A diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, Patterson was condemned for a double slaying almost 12 years ago. His lethal injection renewed the legal quandary of whether it is proper to execute someone who is mentally ill when the Supreme Court says it is unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally retarded.

Strapped to the death chamber gurney, Patterson mumbled, "No kin, no kin, no kin. I'm not guilty of a charge of capital murder. Give me my rights. I'm acquitted of capital murder."

As the warden leaned over him and asked if he had a final statement, Patterson responded, "Statement to what? Statement to what? I'm not guilty of the charge of capital murder."

He continued to ramble, saying "give me my life back" as the lethal drugs took effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.

n/t

Who wants to bet they're evangelical "Christians?" Gee, and I thought being Christian meant following the teachings of Christ––a dyed-in-the-wool, knee-jerk, tree-hugging liberal of yore!

but people who would like to look at a small photo of his face, to study it, can see it at:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&q=%22Kelsey+Patterson%22

I think it's safe to see he was definitely impaired. He looks very child-like. What a shame, what a total shame.

Surprised _Bush didn't take a quick trip home to help Perry savor the moment.

One day the U. S. will get right back on the road to progress we departed in the 1980's, and we'll put the death penalty behind us once and for all, and join the civilized world.

didn't think so...

Its a way for Racists Like the CHIMPANZEE to legally KILL the Black Man.

is good clean christian 'Merikanism

Karla Faye tucker was executed and Bush had no sympathy for her but he let serial killer Henry Lee Lucas off the hook. I never did understand why he didnt apply the same standard to both.

xx

If Kerry had been in the position to pardon someone like Lucas, you just know the Bush campaign would be using it against him as being "soft on crime". Bleh.

on Larry King...it was revolting.

A liberal group like Moveon.org should get a video copy of him doing that on Larry King and use it in a commercial with the words "Compassionate Conservative?" superimposed.

"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."

WHAT A MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 18, 2004, 6:29PM
Schizophrenic killer executed after Perry denies request for stay
Associated Press
AP
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2577177



Kelsey Patterson, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in early adulthood, is scheduled for execution this evening.
HUNTSVILLE - Prison officials executed a mentally ill convicted killer this evening as Gov. Rick Perry rejected a parole board recommendation to commute the sentence to life in prison or delay the lethal injection.

The U.S. Supreme Court also denied a stay for Kelsey Patterson, 50, whose lawyers challenged lower courts' rejected claims that Patterson was mentally incompetent to be executed.

*SNIP*

"State and federal courts have reviewed this case no fewer than 10 times, examining his claims of mental illness and competency, as well as various other legal issues," Perry said in a statement less than an hour before Patterson's scheduled execution time. "In each instance the courts have determined there is no legal bar to his execution.

"This defendant is a very violent individual. Texas has no life without parole sentencing option, and no one can guarantee this defendant would never be freed to commit other crimes were his sentence commuted. In the interests of justice and public safety, I am denying the defendants request for clemency and a stay."

*SNIP*

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it's unconstitutional to execute someone who is mentally retarded, but has not extended the same protection to those claiming mental illness. However, the high court in a 1986 ruling regarding insanity and the death penalty said an inmate may not be executed if he doesn't know why he's on death row and the punishment he faces.

Lawyers from the Texas attorney general's office, opposing appeals by Patterson's attorneys to halt the punishment, cited Patterson's references to stays of execution as indicating the prisoner had an awareness of his punishment.

When is the Catholic church going to start threatening to deny communion for Catholics who support the death penalty? :cry:

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

(snip)
Evidence showed Patterson left his home in Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, and walked about a block to where Oates was standing on a loading dock at his business. Patterson walked up behind him, shot him in the head with a .38-caliber pistol and started walking away. When Harris saw the scene and began screaming, Patterson grabbed her and shot her in the head.

Then he went home, took off his clothes except for socks, and was arrested walking on the street in front of his home.

In 1980 in Dallas and in 1983 in Palestine, Patterson was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges related to nonfatal shootings.
(snip)

This is so sad, so really, sad. Competent people should surely see there's no civilized excuse for killing this man, and for lurking pro-death penalty people, it looks as if even you should recognize killing someone who is this confused, this mentally at sea is STOOOOPID, as well as crude, primitive, and vicious.


What a damned shame.

Thanks again, for finding the article.

...pretty clearly not all there. There are some on death row now that are claiming to be mentally incompetent that probably are competent...but not this one. I realize that life in prison is not really life in prison...but still.

Some days I fell like moving to the Netherlands...

Strapped to the death chamber gurney, Patterson mumbled, "No kin, no kin, no kin. I'm not guilty of a charge of capital murder. Give me my rights. I'm acquitted of capital murder."

As the warden leaned over him and asked if he had a final statement, Patterson responded, "Statement to what? Statement to what? I'm not guilty of the charge of capital murder."

The poor slob still thought he was on trial. Tell me again what purpose his execution served?

Tell me again what purpose his execution served?

I wish I knew :( I think it's barbaric.

to strut about claiming they are tough on crime and support the death penalty. x(

thought they were trying to torture a confession out of him.

The death penalty is sick.

This is about all that was said.


Perry QUOTE:
"This defendant is a very violent individual. Texas has no life without parole sentencing option, and no one can guarantee this defendant would never be freed to commit other crimes were his sentence commuted. In the interests of justice and public safety, I am denying the defendants request for clemency and a stay."
QUOTE

Life without parole was proposed in 1999 & died in committee--to help our Governor Bush's political future. Let the Texas Observer explain it:

The debate over life without parole illustrates another facet of the Governor’s use of the Legislature as an extension of his political campaign. Beyond austerity budgets and an ongoing attempt to purge the welfare rolls is the Governor’s need to be "tough on criminals." That requires more than a yellow rose garden embrace of Rudy Giuliani. Both Republican women on the Senate Criminal Justice Committee – Senators Shapiro and Jane Nelson – have proposed life without parole legislation. But not while George W. is running for president. "They are instructed to vote against it," one source said, "because the Governor doesn’t want to have to sign it or veto it." Many death penalty opponents see life without parole as an opportunity to move the state from execution to incarceration, and thus lower the rate of executions. Signing such a law might make the Governor seem soft on crime.

Those convicted of murder come up for parole in 40 years but defense lawyers are forbidden from mentioning this fact to jurors. If they think the murderer will be eligible for parole in only 10 years, they'll be more likely to choose the death penalty.

www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleFileName=990430_co.htm

This evil sub-human( the chimp) was not sent to earth by god---but by the devil-- deal w/it people.

"Those convicted of murder come up for parole in 40 years but defense lawyers are forbidden from mentioning this fact to jurors."

Really, do they have any excuse for this other than "we wants killin'"?

my heart breaks for anyone with this illness. It is a living HELL. There but for the grace of God go I. He has an awareness that he is "not right" and gets confused about what is real and what is delusions--and there is no arguing with him when he is delusional, and he wastes so much energy on out & out imaginary scenarios--luckily he figures out when he's getting sick and reaches for his medication--which makes him sleep inordinate amounts but also keep a much mellower and more rational state of mind.

May this man rest in peace, finally.

So true. "There but for the grace of God go I".

It is only a question of how much one can endure.

To the administration in TX this man was clearly a threat to society: indigent black mentally ill man who happens to off a couple of people. People like him have to be executed.

Where in the h*ll is the Pope, Amnesty International? I wonder if that man was ever tortured by the prison staff before he was executed...

They did protest a long time ago. But of course the issue that Texas is definitely violating international humanitarian law is a non-issue to the media, so they got ignored.

If the governor will not listen to their recommendations? Especially since they almost never vote to grant clemency to those on death row. To me this says alot about how rotten the Texas system really is. If this joke of a parole board (which is never required to actually meet in person by the way) feels that a prisoner's sentence should be commuted to life, the governor should at least grant more time to study it. Perry is such a right-wing asshole.

I guess this quote means he felt there was no point to delaying the execution any longer. I don't see why they could not have done the 120 day stay that was suggested. What could it have hurt? I hope this man has finally found peace.



Perry QUOTE:
"State and federal courts have reviewed this case no fewer than 10 times, examining his claims of mental illness and competency, as well as various other legal issues," Perry said in a statement less than an hour before Patterson's scheduled execution time. "In each instance the courts have determined there is no legal bar to his execution.
QUOTE:

Of course the thugs are mentally ill killers too and aren't capable of compassion. Just ask the Iraqi and Gitmo prisoners.

Even for mentally retarded people, and some minors.

Yes there are some racial disparity with the DP, but I think it could be solved in more people were willin to execute white muderers, I'm sure some day that will be the case.

OK, let's see, to give one example:

Total amount of Whites who killed Blacks that were sentenced to death since 1976: 12

Total amount of Blacks who killed Whites that were sentenced to death since 1976: 188

Source:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=5&did=184

OK, I'm against the death penalty for two reasons, one is racial disparity, the justice system is biased, plain and simple.

The second reason is also simple, the Justice system is not perfect, I would prefer mistakes that are made to be correctable.

ON EDIT: I have a question for you, since you seem to have no problem with minors being executed, what should be the cut off age, 14, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, well you get the picture, so when is it acceptable and when is it not?

Also, do you support eugenics, just answer honestly, should all people so disabled as to not have the mental acumen to distinguish between right and wrong be allowed to live?

"I have a question for you, since you seem to have no problem with minors being executed, what should be the cut off age, 14, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, well you get the picture, so when is it acceptable and when is it not?"

I'm thinking 14, or maybe 12. I think it really just depends on the severity of the crime.

"Also, do you support eugenics, just answer honestly, should all people so disabled as to not have the mental acumen to distinguish between right and wrong be allowed to live?"

I dont support forced sterilzation or execution of all mentally ill people if that is what you are getting at. I do however think its generally not a good idea for badly retarded couples to be breeding though since they would have a hard time raising thier offspring. That being said I dont think in reality that it happens all that much.

IMO I think its up to the jury to decide whether a person who commited murder is reformable. If they are then they probably shouldnt be given the death penalty, if they arent then they should be given the death penalty.

In regards to people who are mentally retarded I dont think they are all that reformable. If they dont understand that murder is wrong how reformable can they be?

you said... "In regards to people who are mentally retarded I dont think they are all that reformable. If they dont understand that murder is wrong how reformable can they be?"

So you're saying all mentally retarded people convicted of murder should be executed, just because they can't be 'reformable'? (Whatever the hell that means)

Of course, you have no problem with putting a 12 year old to death, either, so why should I be surprised.

The ignorance in your post regarding the mentally ill and mentally retarded is just astounding as well. I guess no one should breed unless they get your OK first? There are mentally retarded/mentally ill people who have perfectly normal children, AND those people are good parents.

"So you're saying all mentally retarded people convicted of murder should be executed, just because they can't be 'reformable'? (Whatever the hell that means)"

So you dont know what the word reformable means? Hmm let me buy you a clue in the form of a dictionary.com link.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=reformable

Well actually I dont believe that all mentally retarded murderers should be executed, I dont however believe that being mentally retarded should give a person a free ticket to avoid the death penalty.

"I guess no one should breed unless they get your OK first?"

Yeah thats the ticket everyone should send me a request for breeding form before they go ahead and have kids. :eyes:

You assume that felons can or cannot be reformed due to... what? What's the basis on which these juries decide if a person is reformable or not? First of all, that is NOT the juries' job. Their job is to decide guilt or innocence, and sometimes, in the sentencing phase, decide a sentence would be the most reasonable form of punishment. Most sentences are decided by a judge, though, not the jury.

I've sat on a capital murder case jury. Believe me, 'reformability' did not enter into our sentencing decision, but many factors that you deem 'unimportant' certainly did. And no one on that jury, even the most die-hard pro-death penalty person, was anxious to find him guilty, knowing he would probably be executed. This was a capital death penalty case in Texas, by the way.

Also, the recidivism rate (the rate in which felons matriculate back into prison after being released) is very high. So where does that fit into your equation? For example if 50% of felons will commit crimes again, should they just be executed the first time? Oh, I know, just execute ALL murderers, regardless of mental capacity, mental illness, circumstances (does a battered wife who murders her husband deserve the death penalty too, for instance?), and who cares if they are only 12 year old kids? Fry 'em all!

And as for the breeding comment, you were the one who made the remark about how 'some people shouldn't be allowed to breed' (paraphrasing). I just want to know how you think people should be 'qualified' before they can use their reproductive rights. Does this attitude also go for abortion, birth control, fertility treatments, adoption, etc? Why don't we just regulate everyone's reproductive processes? I'm sure that would solve a whole lot of problems.

:eyes: back at ya...

regime in charge.

yes, I'm sure there will always be more people willing to execute anybody regardless of age, mental ability, race, gender, etc.

They use bloodletting and violence to obtain arousal.

Why is the United States so backward on the death penalty with the rest of the world?

We're so Christian, 'eh?

What about Candace Mossler, Cullen Davis & Ash Robinson? All rich, white Texans who got away with murder. What about Robert Durst, the millionaire who chopped up a neighbor & threw the garbage bags into Galveston Bay. There's no doubt he did that, but the jury was not convinced he'd killed the 71-year-old guy, so he got off.

White people are executed in Texas--the really poor ones. But none of the cops who pushed Jose Campos Torres into Buffalo Bayou after beating him up in 1977 served more than a year.

What was the name of that woman who ran over her husband with her car last year or the year before, and she got away with it? You may have just listed her, I just can't remember her name.

She got 20 years--less than what many thought she deserved.

Her maiden name was Clara Suarez.

For some reason I was under the impression that she wasn't going to do any time for it.

in protest of this heinous act.

http://www.nami.org/

National Alliancee for the Mentally Ill - The Nation's Voice on Mental Illness

when I get paid tomorrow. :)

I'm ashamed how this country, and especially Texas, treats the mentally ill. There are very little programs to help them, except for being locked up at the state mental hospital. When they are released from the Texas state mental hospital, they are bussed to Houston and Dallas, where they end up being a very large part of the homeless population. Having a sister who is schitzophrenic, I can tell you that it is impossible for a severely mentally ill person to take their meds regularly (if they are lucky enough to afford them) without someone making sure they do. Then of course, schitzophrenia is very hard to control with meds, because what works for one person will not work for another. Some people can live somewhat normal lives when they are medicated -- others can barely function, even with medication.

I found this comment from the Houston Chronicle article especially telling:

"In 1998, four days before former self-confessed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was to die, then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted Lucas after questions were raised about his conviction. It was the only death sentence commuted by Bush in his six years in office when 152 executions were carried out." (emphasis mine)

152 executions in six years?!? I was in Texas at that time, and remember how he gloated over every one of them. I bet Henry Lee Lucas is laughing his ass off, too, for getting his sentence commuted when there are others like this schitzophrenic inmate, who have a legitimate reason for having their sentence commuted, who are put to death.

All that said, it is a tragedy for the families of the two who were murdered, and as a family member who has had a murder in her own family, I can sympathize with them. But justice is supposed to be meted out fairly. There is nothing fair about putting a severely-mentally ill man to death.

Didn't Henry Lee Lucas die within the past few years? I was thinking I had heard that, but I could be wrong. There were PLENTY of other people who should have gotten their sentences commuted before that sick SOB. I can't think of a more cruel punishment than rotting away in a cell for the rest of one's life. Death is too easy for their crimes.

Very rare. But our little Governor ignored them. As bad as other Texas lawmakers can be on this issue, the blame for this one rests squarely on Perry's shoulders. (Maybe he wanted to prove he's a "real man".)

In 2001, he vetoed a bill that would have banned execution of the retarded.

"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."

How sad my State has become.

Somehow it is God's will and great justice to execute the mentally retarded yet we must turn women into two-legged incubators without rights for clumps of developing cells and tissue because it would be immoral and wrong to allow abortion.

Will someone please speed up the Rapture and get all these regressive bigots out of my State?

:-)