By Austin R. Eck
Update
Scott Panetti received a stay of execution from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
“We are grateful that the court stayed tonight’s scheduled execution of Scott Panetti, a man who has suffered from schizophrenia for three decades, for a careful review of the issues surrounding his competency,” Greg Wiercioch and Kathryn Kase, Panetti’s legal team, said in a statement today. “Mr. Panetti’s illness, schizophrenia, was present for years prior to the crime, profoundly affected his trial, and appears to have worsened in recent years.”
Panetti was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Panetti was convicted for the murder of Joe and Amanda Alvarado 22 years ago.
“We would like to remember the Alvarado family today and express our deepest sympathies for the loss of Amanda and Joe Alvarado,” they said.
Panetti’s lawyers have argued that Panetti is not mentally competent to face execution.
According to the order issued by the court, the execution will be stayed to fully consider the late arriving and complex legal questions at issue in this matter.”
Panetti’s lawyers also asked the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Rick Perry to stay execution.
Full updates on the matter, will be in next week’s Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post.
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Time is running short for Scott Panetti, and barring a last-minute reprieve, he will be executed by lethal injection after 6 p.m., today, Wednesday, Dec. 4, for the 1992 murders of Joe and Amanda Alvarado.
As of press time, no reprieve has been granted for Panetti, although his legal team, headed by Greg Wiercioch and Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, has tried to find a reprieve for their client.
On Monday, after the Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons, voted unanimously to deny a commutation recommendation to Gov. Rick Perry, Panetti’s lawyers sent a letter to the governor asking for a 30-day reprieve.
“We urge the governor to use his executive power to grant a stay in order to examine Mr. Panetti’s competency for execution,” Kase said in a statement. “There is still time to stop this unconscionable execution of a severely mentally ill man who would die without comprehending what his death means.”
The letter sent to Perry accuses District Attorney Bruce Curry of not notifying the defense counsel an execution date was set.
Wiercioch and Kase also state that Curry has not spoken to them about modifying the execution date to allow Panetti’s lawyers to review more than 8,500 pages of prison records they received.
“The district attorney’s actions are puzzling,” Panetti’s lawyers wrote.
Curry declined to comment on the case.
In addition to asking Perry for a reprieve, Panetti’s legal team appealed the ruling to the United States Supreme Court.
In the appeal to the Supreme Court, Panetti’s lawyers argue that executing a person who is incompetent to stand trial is unconstitutional.
“Mr. Panetti’s severe mental illness has caused concern among numerous judges who issued multiple powerful dissents last week and has galvanized extensive support for relief in his case from the mental health community,” Kase said. “The National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Psychiatric Association, Mental Health America, Disability Rights Texas and many others have expressed that no retributive or deterrent value is achieved by carrying out lethal injection against a man as sick as Scott Panetti.”
Lawyers also have filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as well. However, neither court has issued a ruling as of press time.
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