Charles Laverne Singleton Case

In Texas, a man with schizophrenia was executed (Kelsey Patterson) even after the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended clemency after learning of his time spent in mental hospitals and his unintelligible rambling.

Debate over capital punishment is nothing new, but it reaches a whole new level when the accused is mentally ill. The question then becomes… was the perpetrator aware of his heinous actions by knowing right from wrong at the time of the crime or was the mental illness controlling his actions? While being sympathetic to the grief and heart break of the victim’s loved ones, I believe that execution for the mentally ill should not be allowed, because often their illness makes them incapable of knowing right and wrong of their actions. Many of those with mental illnesses often go undiagnosed and untreated, either by choice or by financial circumstances, because of the stigma and general lack of understanding associated with this type of diagnosis in our society.

There are laws and decisions of United States government and higher orders that present controversy to the people of America. In the state of Texas the application of the death penalty is difficult to interpret, especially for the mentally ill, because there is no written law or bill that explains the execution implication in complete detail. The death penalty is a capital punishment of death for those who have committed such high crime. This penalty goes for everyone who does such act no matter who you are, how rich how poor, or where you stand in society. For the longest time, even with the mindset and understanding that those who commit crime to a certain level can receive the execution punishment, the concern and debate whether the mentally

But then, several days later one of the psychiatrists revised their medical opinion. Because he was not insane, the case would go on. The state of Georgia charged him with murder and issued the death penalty. This was because Georgia state law stated that any form of murder issued with a felony was punishable by death. Furman’s attorneys knew that the murder had been accidental and that Furman was genuinely sorry for the action he had caused, so they decide there was only one other path out: The Supreme Court.

Anthony Graves was living on death row for almost two decades while being in solitary confinement. While he was proven un-guilty of murder he still has the punishment of eighteen years of living while being mentally and physically dead. After Mr. Graves was let out of prison, he still has to rethink about almost being killed because of a prosecutor that didn’t want to lose her case. How unprofessional could that be, letting someone rot in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, while the prosecutor knew of doubts, but went along like he didn’t hear it. The cost of one’s life is more than all of the money in the world, because once someone is lethally injected, no one can bring them back. Now I am starting to wonder about the death penalty and questioning myself is it fit for the worst of crimes for is it not fit at all. Kerry Max Cook was a former death row inmate that had conversations with Robert Earl Carter, "Anthony, I really believe, is innocent. I'm stunned that an innocent person is this close to execution (Rice,2005), was stated by former death row inmate Cook, that was let off for being proven

It is essential to have knowledge of the previous case which was Rogers v. Okin. Rogers became distressed with the forcible consumption of Haldol, an antipsychotic medication, causing to set herself on fire in order to be transferred to a medical hospital. On April 27, 1975, Rogers, along with six other patients who were also medicated against their will, initiated lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against officials and staff of the May and Austin Units of the BSH. Plaintiffs were all present or were previous mental patients and were all administered with drugs forcefully. In this case, the Plaintiff prevailed.

On Jan. 6, 2004, the state of Arkansas executed Charles Singleton by lethal injection. His death was overlooked by

Unfortunately and likely from the lack of medical experiences when performing executions, there have been several documented botched executions since the Gregg v. Georgia decision which re-constitutionalized the death penalty. There have been 47 total botched executions including 35 by lethal injection and 1 attempted execution by lethal injection. Although the Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees state that isolated mishaps alone do not violate the Eighth Amendment, it is hard to see how the botched executions do not violate the Eighth amendment of the individual in question. For example in several instances, the executioners were unable to find an adequate vein which often required constant probing and stabbing. As a testament to the lack of medical

Ford vs. Wainwright was not established law until 1986, seven years after he did the crime. He should have been sentenced and executed for murder long before attorneys could use this legal method. Once Washington vs. Harper converted law in 1990, still only eleven years after the murdering of Ms. York; this should have been an easy case. This court who took more than13 years costed more of a million of dollars taxpayer paid having Mr. Singleton housed, clothed and fed not to mention thousands of dollars spent on attorney’s fees and the sadness and suffering endured by Ms. York’s family. I think the decision made by the State of Arkansas was correct. Mr. Singleton clearly merited the death punishment. As an adult, he arrived York’s Grocery Store at Hamburg with the determined of a burglary that is a big crime. He said Ms. York to her face that he was going to rob her store only he chose to take this future that, finally, was killed. Nevertheless of he was schizophrenic/psychotic at the time of the crime, he committed cold-blooded murder, and turned and walked away. The state was confronted with the killing of a young woman who, while bleeding to death, gave details and facts of what happened. Technically, he was not diagnosed with a mentally unstable until later of his imprisonment, therefore, final that his mental well balanced at the time of the crime was sane. He should have been condemned based on evidence the night of the crime, not his mental state at the date of execution. Taxpayers continued to pay to house, house, medicationfeed and clothe Mr. Singleton for 24½ years, much more than that of the standard death row

2014 was the worst year in the 37th year history of the lethal injection. That year four executions were reported as problematic. For example on the evening of July 23, 2014, Joseph Rudolph Wood III was killed at the Florence State Penitentiary in Arizona. Wood was first convicted in 1989. He awaited the day of his execution for over 15 years. The day finally came. The execution of Wood began at exactly 1:52 MST. His death was supposed to be fast, painless, and most importantly, instantaneous. This did not actually happen that day. What was supposed to be a ten minute procedure, lasted over two whole excruciating, agonizing, two hour, of his life. The “deadly” drug cocktail that was injected into his body that

In this case between Roper and Simmons. Roper was the Columbia state and was the one charged with carrying out Christopher Simmons’ death sentence. Simmons had the intentions of robbing someone but his crime ended up turning into a murder. He did not have the intentions of wanting to kill anyone it just ended up with the owner waking up and they ended up torturing her and ended up killing the woman. The state wanted Christopher Simmons to be put to death because of how he ended up killing the owner but they could not put him to death because of how he was only a minor and did not know what he was doing. That he was not in the right state of mind and he had no control over his actions they said that he was mentally retarded just because he was a minor and ended up killing a woman.

In 2014, convicted killer Joseph R. Wood III was executed by lethal injection. The execution took nearly two hours in which Woods reportedly “gasped and struggled to breath.” Inmates at an Oklahoma prison believed that the drug was unconstitutional because it can be associated with cruel and unusual punishment. The prisoners took the issue to federal court. On June 29, 2015 the Supreme Court ruled against three death row inmates in Oklahoma who wanted to remove the specific execution drug which could risk the cause of excruciating pain. This case can be directly linked to the 8th Amendment on cruel and unusual punishment. 5 out of the 9 judges believed that the drug did work in knocking the guilty unconscious in the first stages of the

In spite of more European countries ending the death penalty, the United States maintained the death penalty, but then put limits on capital punishment. The United States Supreme Court stated in Coker v. Georgia (433 U.S. 584) in 1977, that the death penalty was not a warranted sentence for the rape of a woman if she was not murdered. More limits to the death penalty were established in the years to come. One limitation was established with those who suffered from mental illness and intellectual disability in mind. The Supreme Court, in 1986, prohibited the execution of individuals deemed insane and necessitated an adversarial procedure for establishing the individuals mental competency The Supreme Court stated that executing individuals suffering

State, 833 N.E.2nd 454, it was ruled by the Indiana Supreme Court that the death penalty was not a harsh and uncommon sentence under the Constitution of the state of Indiana and the United States Supreme Court has never included mentally ill murder offenders in the same protection category as the mentally regarded murder

In terms of the death penalty, certain crimes do deserve this punishment, under specific circumstances. Heinous crimes, such as the murder of the 1st and 2nd degree and rape, should be punishable by death. However, this punishment shall only occur so long as the criminal(s) pass both the M'Naghten Rule and the Durham Rule. In the gruesome murders of the Clutters’ family, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hitchcock were both deemed perfectly sane under both rules, showing that both men deserved the death penalty. Although there is plenty of proof that Hitchcock was sane, there is also enough evidence to prove that Smith was mentally unstable. Due to this evidence, Hitchcock rightfully got what he deserved, while Smith was wrongfully done.