execution of schizophrenic man stayed

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This was in the news yesterday, December 3rd:

http://www.newsweek.com/court-grants-st ... tti-288947

I hope I'm not breaking forum rules when I express my hope that the present stay will ultimately lead to his sentence being commuted to life in prision or, preferably, life in a secure mental institution where he will receive treatment for his illness. The proceedings of his trial also seem to have been questionable.

I don't know the case in detail, but he probably belongs in a mental institution.

What is strange is that they stayed it at the last moment, when they had some 20 years for that! They already knew during trial he was Mad Hatter. I doubt staying that long on death row is good for your sanity.

Personally, he should have been executed. I'm mentally ill, supposedly, but, like the majority of us that suffer, we still have the sense not to follow our baser instincts, medications or no.

I understand your point, but I think that whether or not you still have that sense probably depends very much on the illness and the severity of it. For people with OCD (like me) it is pretty rare to become violent towards others as a result of their illness (with or without medication), but as far as I understood for people with severe schizophrenia this is much more common.

Last edited by SweetTooth on 05 Dec 2014, 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

There are degrees. From the article it's pretty clear that this guy is completely off the charts. It's hard to punish someone who has no idea what he is doing (it seems). And executing him doesn't prevent this in the future, people who lose their mind don't act rational anymore.

I don't know enough about this case to form an opinion. I am not fond of the mentally ill being executed if their crime was linked to their illness. I think this guy should be in a hospital for life if he is not responsible for his actions. It seems rare for people with mental illnesses to be found not guilty and be placed where they belong than in prison.