Execution of Mentally Ill Killer Is Blocked
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court yesterday blocked the execution of a Texas killer, saying lower courts should have considered psychiatric evidence about his mental illness.
The court ruled 5–4 in the case of Scott Louis Panetti, who shot his in-laws to death 15 years ago in front of his wife and young daughter.
Lawyers for the convicted murderer say that he suffers from a severe documented illness that is the source of gross delusions.
“This argument, we hold, should have been considered” when Panetti was scheduled for execution, said Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion.
