Post by Anja on Jun 5, 2006 16:14:56 GMT -5
VIRGINIA----impending execution
Sanity of Condemned Va. Inmate Debated
Percy Walton's attorneys describe their client as a man who has lost all
touch with reality: He keeps no personal effects in his death row cell,
save for a mountain of salt and pepper packets.
He rarely speaks, although occasionally bursts into random bouts of
laughter. And when asked what he believes will happen to him if he is
executed, Walton responds that he'd go to Burger King, the attorneys say.
Whether Walton - who is scheduled to die by injection Thursday - is indeed
insane and mentally retarded has been debated for nearly a decade. Some
believe he is faking his behavior to get off death row. Others argue he
simply doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity or mental
retardation.M
The question of his sanity is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has
just days to decide whether to take the case and determine if Walton
should be executed for the 1996 slayings of three neighbors in Danville.
Walton, 27, pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and 33-year-old Archie Moore. The victims
were robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found stuffed in a
closet, his corpse doused in cologne. It was a crime Walton's own
attorneys describe as bizarre and senseless.
"The police told me later that Daddy was face down on the carpet in the
living room with his hands above his head, as if in prayer," the
Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, 68, said softly. "Mother was in the
dining area. ... He said she had begged for her life - she had begged him
not to kill her."
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left definitions up to the states. In the petition
to the high court, Walton's attorneys argue that Walton has schizophrenia
and is incapable of understanding the concept of death, therefore making
him ineligible for execution.
The petition argues that the court didn't give sufficient guidance in its
Ford v. Wainwright decision in 1986, which found that executions of the
insane are unconstitutional. As a result, lower courts read the decision
narrowly and allow executions of mentally ill inmates whom the court
intended to protect, the petition says.
A clemency request with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine further argues that Walton
is mentally retarded. The Virginia attorney general's office has argued
that intelligence scores taken when Walton was 17 and 18 place him above
the accepted range for mental retardation, though other evaluations were
conflicting.
Walton was three days from execution in 2003 when U.S. District Judge
Samuel Wilson granted a temporary stay so experts could explore his mental
state.
In the hearings that followed, prison guard Cecilia Turner testified that
Walton wouldn't leave his cell to take a shower, complaining about a man
in a white suit sitting on a gray box in his cell. Turner said she would
have to convince him the imaginary man was gone before he would come out.
Prison counselors and mental health specialists told the judge they
thought Walton was psychotic and delusional. While the lawyers debated in
court, Walton laughed and picked his nose.
But Wilson ultimately ruled that despite Walton's problems, he understands
his death sentence is punishment for his murder conviction and is
therefore competent. The judge noted the testimony of a prison
psychiatrist who considered Walton a "mentally limited, street-wise
predator" who misled people into thinking he was crazy.
In March, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 7-6 to affirm
Wilson's decision.
"His guilt and competence have been determined by 15 judges and we agree
with their findings," said Tucker Martin, a spokesman for Attorney General
Bob McDonnell.
But Walton's mental state has deteriorated so much that he would probably
be unaware he was dying if he was executed, his attorney Nash Bilisoly
said.
"He does not comprehend any of the significance of what's going on,"
Bilisoly said. "He's so ill now that he just has no affect. He doesn't
have understanding, comprehension nor emotion."
Virginia's death row inmates are required to decide between lethal
injection and electrocution. If they refuse to choose, the default method
is injection. In 2003, Walton opted to die by electrocution, later telling
The Associated Press in a phone interview he had no idea why he had chosen
the chair.
"I don't even know," he told the AP shortly before his scheduled 2003
execution. "I think my man with the blue shirt, he circled one of the
words. He may have been my counselor. He asked me, 'Electrocution or
lethal injection.' I told him I wanted electrocution. I don't know (why).
I don't even know. I don't even know."
Walton's decision to die by electrocution unnerved Case, the Kendrick's
daughter, who does not believe Walton was insane or mentally retarded when
he murdered her parents.
"Maybe he's just gone stark raving mad being on death row," said Case.
"But who knows? Only God knows."
On the Net: -- U.S. Supreme Court: www.supremecourtus.gov
(source: Associated Press)
Sanity of Condemned Va. Inmate Debated
Percy Walton's attorneys describe their client as a man who has lost all
touch with reality: He keeps no personal effects in his death row cell,
save for a mountain of salt and pepper packets.
He rarely speaks, although occasionally bursts into random bouts of
laughter. And when asked what he believes will happen to him if he is
executed, Walton responds that he'd go to Burger King, the attorneys say.
Whether Walton - who is scheduled to die by injection Thursday - is indeed
insane and mentally retarded has been debated for nearly a decade. Some
believe he is faking his behavior to get off death row. Others argue he
simply doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity or mental
retardation.M
The question of his sanity is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has
just days to decide whether to take the case and determine if Walton
should be executed for the 1996 slayings of three neighbors in Danville.
Walton, 27, pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and 33-year-old Archie Moore. The victims
were robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found stuffed in a
closet, his corpse doused in cologne. It was a crime Walton's own
attorneys describe as bizarre and senseless.
"The police told me later that Daddy was face down on the carpet in the
living room with his hands above his head, as if in prayer," the
Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, 68, said softly. "Mother was in the
dining area. ... He said she had begged for her life - she had begged him
not to kill her."
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left definitions up to the states. In the petition
to the high court, Walton's attorneys argue that Walton has schizophrenia
and is incapable of understanding the concept of death, therefore making
him ineligible for execution.
The petition argues that the court didn't give sufficient guidance in its
Ford v. Wainwright decision in 1986, which found that executions of the
insane are unconstitutional. As a result, lower courts read the decision
narrowly and allow executions of mentally ill inmates whom the court
intended to protect, the petition says.
A clemency request with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine further argues that Walton
is mentally retarded. The Virginia attorney general's office has argued
that intelligence scores taken when Walton was 17 and 18 place him above
the accepted range for mental retardation, though other evaluations were
conflicting.
Walton was three days from execution in 2003 when U.S. District Judge
Samuel Wilson granted a temporary stay so experts could explore his mental
state.
In the hearings that followed, prison guard Cecilia Turner testified that
Walton wouldn't leave his cell to take a shower, complaining about a man
in a white suit sitting on a gray box in his cell. Turner said she would
have to convince him the imaginary man was gone before he would come out.
Prison counselors and mental health specialists told the judge they
thought Walton was psychotic and delusional. While the lawyers debated in
court, Walton laughed and picked his nose.
But Wilson ultimately ruled that despite Walton's problems, he understands
his death sentence is punishment for his murder conviction and is
therefore competent. The judge noted the testimony of a prison
psychiatrist who considered Walton a "mentally limited, street-wise
predator" who misled people into thinking he was crazy.
In March, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 7-6 to affirm
Wilson's decision.
"His guilt and competence have been determined by 15 judges and we agree
with their findings," said Tucker Martin, a spokesman for Attorney General
Bob McDonnell.
But Walton's mental state has deteriorated so much that he would probably
be unaware he was dying if he was executed, his attorney Nash Bilisoly
said.
"He does not comprehend any of the significance of what's going on,"
Bilisoly said. "He's so ill now that he just has no affect. He doesn't
have understanding, comprehension nor emotion."
Virginia's death row inmates are required to decide between lethal
injection and electrocution. If they refuse to choose, the default method
is injection. In 2003, Walton opted to die by electrocution, later telling
The Associated Press in a phone interview he had no idea why he had chosen
the chair.
"I don't even know," he told the AP shortly before his scheduled 2003
execution. "I think my man with the blue shirt, he circled one of the
words. He may have been my counselor. He asked me, 'Electrocution or
lethal injection.' I told him I wanted electrocution. I don't know (why).
I don't even know. I don't even know."
Walton's decision to die by electrocution unnerved Case, the Kendrick's
daughter, who does not believe Walton was insane or mentally retarded when
he murdered her parents.
"Maybe he's just gone stark raving mad being on death row," said Case.
"But who knows? Only God knows."
On the Net: -- U.S. Supreme Court: www.supremecourtus.gov
(source: Associated Press)