LEO Weekly cover story on mental illness and the death penalty

I don't like the title, but Sarah Kelley's look into the move to prohibit executions of the severely mentally ill is a good read.

Highlights:

• * Only individuals suffering from the most serious mental disorders would be eligible for exclusion from capital punishment. Such mental illnesses include major depressive disorder, dissociative disorders such as multiple personalities, and schizophrenia, by far the most common serious mental illness plaguing capital defendants. Those with psychological disorders due to chronic drug abuse could still face the death penalty.

• Not only must a defendant be diagnosed with a grave mental illness, lawyers would have to prove the person was suffering from the disorder at the time of the crime.

• It is estimated that about 5-10 percent of defendants currently on death row suffer from severe psychological illness.

• Years after Gall’s trial, several jurors called to testify during his appeal admitted they favored imposing the death penalty in large part because he was deranged, despite the fact that mental illness is a mitigating factor in capital cases.

• Rather than present evidence disputing the defense’s argument, the prosecution disparaged the use of an insanity defense in general, equating psychologists to “three blind mice asked to identify an elephant,” before warning the jury not to “turn Gall loose” by finding him insane and shipping him off to a mental hospital.

• Only about 1 percent of accused felons claim innocence due to mental illness. Of those defendants, juries find only a small fraction not guilty by reason of insanity. Experts believe that’s because mental illness is stigmatized, misunderstood and feared.

• In Tennessee, the state’s court of appeals overturned the death sentence of Richard Taylor in March. A paranoid schizophrenic, Taylor was serving time for robbery when, after being denied his anti-psychotic medication for months, he attacked and killed a prison guard. The judge allowed Taylor to serve as his own attorney. During his trial, he wore sunglasses, failed to present any witnesses or evidence, and instead ranted incoherently before the jury, which sentenced him to death. His sentence was thrown out and he now is serving life.