Yeah, Aurora theater shooter James Holmes is sick. And his murderous spree inside that theater was one of the most sickening crimes in our lifetime. I’ll tell you what else is sick: the fact that we stay the course in executing mentally ill criminals in this country.

No one disagrees with the fact that Aurora theater shooter James Holmes is mentally ill. I don’t mean mentally ill like he gets really depressed or can’t stop counting how many times the windshield wipers go back and forth when he’s riding in a car. I’m talking about a guy so messed up that he became obsessed with the idea of murdering a lot of innocent people in a movie theater, he planned it out and then did it.

The very doctors who told the theater shooting trial jury that Holmes was not legally insane at the time of the shootings also told the jury that Holmes was perilously sickened with some type of schizophrenia.

“But for this mental illness, that shooting would not have occurred,” public defender Tamara Brady told the jury, noting that every doctor who examined Holmes said he was seriously mentally ill.

No mental illness. No crime would have been committed here. Of course had Holmes been unable to easily collect a virtual arsenal would also have changed the crime, but I won’t go there today.  For now, no one who examined Holmes disputes the fact that his mental illness was either the root of his crime or the enabler, or both. Of course it’s impossible to say for certain that had Holmes not been psychotic, that he still wouldn’t have carried out some diabolical act during his lifetime. This entire crime was prompted and driven by a thick cloud of psychosis. Sadly, for the victims of his murderous plans, he was smart enough and able to keep it together to keep from tipping his plan to outsiders, which would have prevented the slaughter. In hindsight, there are a room full of people who knew Holmes and would now realize just how sick he was, and how they should have intervened.

Too late.

And as for persuading this jury marching toward killing Holmes back as revenge for those he murdered and maimed, it seems all over, save for the decades of appeals while he sits on death row.

Holmes is hardly the first abhorrent murderer to be driven by mental illness and still sentenced to death. It keeps happening despite that fact that an overwhelming number of Americans disapprove of death sentences for mentally ill convicts. A November 2014 Pubic Policy Polling  survey revealed that 58 percent of respondents opposed imposing the death penalty on mentally ill convicts, while 28 percent supported it.  Despite that, we keep at it.

We still send people like Holmes to their death despite the fact that their crimes are driven by their psychosis, and not anything that makes sense to well people. Like Holmes, other mentally ill criminals don’t kill people for money, drugs,  hatred, revenge or any of the number of reasons that “normal” criminals choose to kill. They commit their crimes because they live in a world of delusion fueled by mental illness.

We execute mentally ill people in this country, a sentence we’re inflicting on ourselves. Maybe when the jury comes back a final time to deliver a death penalty answer to this devastating crime, we’ll all get a reprieve.

Here are just a few of those cases compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. It probably won’t be long before we add Holmes to the list.

Cecil Clayton was executed on March 17, 2015, in Missouri. He was 74, suffered from dementia, had an IQ of 71, was missing a significant part of his brain due to an accident. His attorneys insisted he should be spared because he did not understand the punishment to be carried out. Clayton sustained a brain injury in a sawmill accident in 1972, requiring removal of about 20% of his frontal lobe, which is involved in impulse control, problem solving, and social behavior. After the accident, Clayton began experiencing violent impulses, schizophrenia, and extreme paranoia, which became so severe that he checked himself into a mental hospital out of fear he could not control his temper. In 1983, Dr. Douglas Stevens, a psychiatrist, examined Clayton and concluded, “There is presently no way that this man could be expected to function in the world of work. Were he pushed to do so he would become a danger both to himself and to others. He has had both suicidal and homicidal impulses, so far controlled, though under pressure they would be expected to exacerbate.” In the past decade, six psychiatric evaluations have found that Clayton should be exempt from execution because he does not understand that he will be executed, or the reasons for his execution. However, since his execution date was set, he did not have a competency hearing before a judge that could spare him from execution.

Andrew Brannan, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, was executed in Georgia on January 13, 2015. Brannan’s attorneys asked the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency because Brannan suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. A police video from the crime scene illustrated Brannan’s erratic behavior. Joe Loveland, one of Brannan’s attorneys, said, “There was a direct connection between his service in Vietnam and the violence that he was exposed to there and the ultimate events that occurred here. The basic question really is, should a 66-year-old Vietnam War veteran with no prior criminal record and who was 100 percent disabled under the DA standards, both with PTSD and bipolar disorder, at the time of the murder of the deputy sheriff — should that person be executed?”

John Middleton was executed on July 16, 2014, in Missouri.
On July 15, a federal judge stayed the execution of Middleton, less than 24 hours before it was to occur. The judge was concerned that Middleton might be mentally incompetent, and hence ineligible for execution: “Middleton has provided evidence that he has been diagnosed with a variety of mental-health disorders and has received a number of psychiatric medications over the years,” Judge Catherine Perry wrote in her order staying the execution. “[Other] inmates indicate that he frequently talks to people who are not there and tells stories that could not have had any basis in reality.” Middleton’s attorneys have also introduced new evidence to support his claim of innocence. An expert witness who supported the prosecution’s case at trial has now said the murder most likely took place when Middleton was in jail in another state. Kay Parish, an attorney for Middleton, said, “Part of the reason we don’t execute people with mental deficits is that they have more difficulty navigating the system. And I think that’s very true in this case, and I think that’s why he had trouble in the past in getting lawyers or anyone to listen to his claim of innocence or look at this evidence.”

John Ferguson was executed on August 5, 2013, in Florida.
Ferguson has suffered from severe mental illness for more than four decades. As far back as 1965, Ferguson was found to experience visual hallucinations. He was sent to mental institutions and was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, delusional, and aggressive. In 1975, a mental health doctor described Ferguson as “dangerous and cannot be released under any circumstances.” Nevertheless, he was released less than a year later. Ferguson believes he is the “Prince of God” and is being executed so can save the world. Ferguson’s attorneys recently filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that Florida courts have applied the wrong standard for mental competency, ignoring the current interpretation of this issue by the High Court, which requires that an inmate have a rational understanding of why he is being executed. An earlier editorial in the Tampa Bay Times opposing Ferguson’s execution, agreed, “Florida is embracing an interpretation of competency for execution so pinched that it would virtually extinguish limits on executing the severely mentally ill. The state says Ferguson is aware that he is being put to death and that he committed murder, and is therefore competent to be executed.” (“Scott Sets New Date For Executing Mass Killer,” Associated Press, July 24, 2013; Editorial Board, “State shouldn’t execute severely mentally ill killer,” Tampa Bay Times, November 2012).

Garry Allen was executed in Oklahoma on November 6, 2012.
This was the third date set for him this year. Allen’s execution has been stayed repeatedly due to questions about his mental competence. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as well as dementia caused by seizures, drug abuse, and a gunshot wound to his head sustained during his arrest. In 2008, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended that his death sentence be commuted by a 4-1 vote. Governor Mary Fallin granted a stay in order to consider the Board’s recommendation, but denied clemency.  Allen murdered his wife 26 years ago, after she had left him and taken their two children.

Robert Moorman was executed in Arizona on February 29, 2012.
Moorman’s lawyers argued that he was mentally disabled and was sexually abused throughout childhood and into adulthood. Prosecutors said Moorman’s mental capacity at the time of his crime was just above the legal threshold for mental impairment.

Mark Bailey was executed in Virginia on July 22, 2004.
A clinical psychologist testified that Bailey suffered from bipolar disorder, which is characterized by impulsive acts. During his trial, he was given large doses of lithium, which had a sedative effect on him. Jury members stated that his lack of emotion at trial, likely caused by his medication, contributed to their decision to sentence him to death.

Kelsey Patterson was executed on May 18, 2004 in Texas despite a 5-1 recommendation by the Parole Board for Clemency.
Mr. Patterson suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and believed that electronic devices had been implanted in his body and were controlling him.

Charles Singleton was executed on January 6, 2004 in Arkansas.
Singleton stopped taking medication in 1997 and became psychotic, believing that his victim was still alive and that his jail cell was inhabited by demons. He was then forcibly medicated, prompting a series of appeals that culminated with an 8th Circuit Court ruling that he could be forced to take drugs that made him sane enough to be executed.

Monty Delk was executed in Texas on February 28, 2002.
Delk’s lawyer claimed that Delk had become insane while on death row, describing Delk’s behavior as “long periods of psychotic thought punctuated by grandiose delusions, incoherent ramblings, and smearing himself with his own feces, interspersed with brief moments of lucidity and compliance.”

James Johnson was executed in Missouri on January 9, 2002.
Johnson, a Vietnam War veteran, suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His appeals claimed ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial lawyer failed to interview prosecution witnesses and presented inaccurate evidence, which destroyed the credibility of Johnson’s PTSD defense.

Dion Smallwood was executed in Oklahoma on January 18, 2001.
During Smallwood’s clemency hearing, Dr. Patricia Fleming, a psychologist, testified that she had diagnosed Smallwood with bipolar disorder 5 years after the murder of Lois Frederick.

Thomas Provenzano was executed in Florida on June 20, 2000.
Provenzano’s lawyers sought a delay of his execution in order to allow a psychiatrist to determine his competency to be executed. Provenzano suffered from delusions, including the  belief that he was Jesus Christ, and that he was being executed because people hate Jesus.

32 replies on “PERRYBLOG: Of course we execute mentally ill people in the United States”

      1. You expect people to read? They would rather fly by seat of their pants, and what they know. Don’t need no stinking books or law.
        Have you not heard the ex-lawyers on television who argue endlessly about the meaning of any law, statute, or policy. PC folks don’t laws. They know what they know, even if others think that is wrong. (sarcasm)

    2. Which ones would you say need the better care. I see a lot of folks who could use some counseling and learning discipline. That is something else left out of the growing years for our youth. Who do we fault for that?

      1. ‘no discipline, no dress code, no reprisal’ that’s the way of the liberal, ‘tolerance and rehabilitation’ never penalties, only counseling.

  2. Perhaps we should do a reverse course and reopen mental institutions that were closed during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Community-based mental health clinics do not adequately address the problems of severe mental illness. Alas, our modern culture seems to increase the prevalence and severity of mental illness.

    1. And of ending mental illness, or better yet, finding reasons why? You make it sound as if half the country is mentally ill, must be the ones that ‘need’ medical marijuana.

      1. Many mentally ill folks, probably millions, remain undiagnosed and untreated by professionals. They self medicate on “medical” marijuana and opiate pain medications, becoming dependent or addicted. Prescription abuse is becoming widespread, as a third-party pays instead of the individual. In the not so distant past, drug addicts use to have to steal and rob others in order to get money to buy their illicit drugs … now all they have to do is go to the local pharmacy (or drug) store or cannabis shop and get the government or insurance to pay for their addiction.

      2. When that is mixed with alcohol, it really speeds up the process for some folks of reaching their sate of numbness, and dependency on government.

    2. That would reduce jail and prison populations very quickly. Hitler and his doctors declared misfits, disabled, mental cases, etc. as drag on economy, so experimented on them. Right after the war, mental facilities in USA were changed into other uses, and jails an prisons became storage for those souls. But Joe is right. I visited such a facility in 1947, while on Senior class Graduation Trip where we stopped in upper NY state. Saw patients there happily associating with others in the yards, grassy areas between the buildings, while nurses or staff moved among them. Was very impressive for me at 17, and knowing an individual in our neighborhood who had been in such a facility, came home to live for a time, had regression and went back. When he came back, he was as normal, and sociable as anyone else I knew. And we had a pretty laid back, calmer life style in 1949-50, until I left for military service in October 1950.
      Life speeded up, but I had standards of military that were reasonable, and led to growth of individuals. Stayed for 26 years, and enjoyed the growth in education, experience, and life. Dave Perry could have used some of that discipline.

  3. Andrew Brannan shot a Georgia county sheriffs deputy numerous times, including at point blank range. It was all caught on the deputy’s dashboard camera in full horrific detail. Brannan deserved to die for that crime.

    Mark Bailey willfully shot his wife multiple times in the head as she slept and then cruelly shot his infant son as he crawled out of his crib to check on his mother. The image of the child in its sleeper, teddy bear in hand, pacifier in mouth and gaping bullet wound in the back of the head was one of the most horrific crime scenes prosecutors in Hampton City had ever seen. Bailey deserved to die as punishment for the murders.

  4. This is a fast, easy way to communicate directly with your own legislator online about this legislation. This is MORE effective than a petition, so even if you already signed a petition, please pledge your SUPPORT for the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act HR2646 here.
    This legislation is one measure that will play an important role in reducing mass shootings, suicide rates, violence toward family members and caregivers, high rates of incarceration, homelessness, and tormented lives among America’s 10 million seriously mentally ill citizens.
    Please sign and share this! THANK YOU to everyone who has previously and continues to show support of this crucial legislation!
    Also, once you’ve submitted your “support”, be sure to check your email and “confirm” so it reaches your legislator.https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/114/hr2646

  5. Problem
    People with serious mental illness account for a disproportionate share of suicides, homelessness, violence, and incarceration.
    2 million mentally ill go untreated
    One-third of homeless are mentally ill (200,000)
    16% of incarcerated (300,000) have mental illness
    1,000 homicides a year are committed by mentally ill
    10-17% of seriously mentally ill kill themselves
    $15 billion is spent incarcerating mentally ill
    Random acts of violence by minority are tarring the majority.

    1. And there seems to be very little help for a parent of a mentally ill adult that refuses treatment. Police don’t consider mental illness a medical problem yet it certainly is!

  6. Five Policies that Save Money, Improve Care, and Keep Public and Patients Safer
    Spend smarter: Spend on mental “illness” not mental “health”.
    Use Assisted Outpatient Treatment (court ordered outpatient treatment) for those with a history of violence dangerousness or multiple rehospitalizations due to noncompliance.
    Reform involuntary commitment laws so they prevent violence, rather than require it.
    Reform Medicaid law to preserve psychiatric hospitals (eliminate the IMD Exclusion)
    People found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity and unfit to stand trial should receive mandated treatment

      3. Misplaced Funding: Most money spent goes to mental ‘health’ not mental “illness”. People with serious mental illness are usually sent to the end of the line, rather than the front. The ability to get services is inversely related to need, therefore people with serious mental illness find it difficult to get services. Mental health providers often discriminate against highly symptomatic people with serious mental illnesses.

        1. I lost a very close, dear friend not long ago, her problem, mental health doctors. Their remedies, prescription drugs, keep the patient so dulled up they can’t think or act. I’ve seen your ‘fixes’ and ‘cures’ partner, and they stink. The ‘art’ or ‘culture’ of mental health professionals is one of deceit and lies. Without drugs, they can do nothing, there is no need for them, any doctor can prescribe drugs to numb the system and mind. The hocus-pocus field of mental health physicians is just that. slight of hand and prescription drugs.

          2. Yeah. “A very close dear friend” indeed. The Stone Age goo goo clown. Touching. sniff…..

          3. Speaking of “hocus locus”, goo goo does it again with this bit of “slight of hand” reasoning. Uh huh.

  7. I think they should be ‘offed’ much sooner. You ‘bleeding heart’ liberals are the death of America. You’re so tied up in ‘individual rights’ and ‘civil rights’ that scum like this one, cause you to write a diatribe like this, condemning justice, in favor of ‘rehabilitation and tolerance’ (as with the guy who just shot and killed a Memphis policeman, bank robber, sentenced to 121 months in prison, while out on bail, robbed again and was caught, after a judge took a look at it, he was given a ‘fine and agreed to treatment’, while out, he murdered a police officer’) instead of punishment. What does it matter that someone is deemed mentally ill or not? If they do the crime, they do the punishment.

    2. “You bleeding heart liberals”. Right! The goo goo coughs up another of his/her patented yawners. zzzzzz

      I wonder what caused goo goo to write this diatribe.

  8. Dave complains about this in rant, but look at all the ink and all the articles he has written on this. And don’t ever scare us with a final bill of what all of the trial, investigators, legal folks, transportation, has cost the taxpayer. No we would start to question “all lives matter”, and “also why we spend so much for mental instructors, student time, and granting degrees in that field, when they meet at trial, and disagree or dispute each other. WORST PART OF ALL THIS, DAVE HAS A PROBLEM WITH HOLMES BEING MARCHED TO HIS DEATH. Now we all know we have 3 on death row from Arapahoe County, who went through like court trials, judge-jury all decided they met the requirements of Colorado Law, yet our Governor could not bring himself to set a date, or to execute them. And I also believe he will release them to the streets, before he leaves office this term, just as Obama and Homeland Defense release illegal aliens who had killed, to our streets. Did not tell the local officials before hand either. WHAT A TERRIBLE EXPENSE, TIME, EFFORT, BY ALL THOSE BEFORE AND NOW, WHEN WE HAVE DOUBT OF EXECUTION EVER BEING CARRIED OUT. Now if we could ship these guys over to Texas, Florida, Utah, or somewhere with a more balanced government, the families of victims and the killers could all get closure. And our prison guards could be in less dangerous situation. But that appears to only be my opinion, for what it worth.

  9. You would pretty much have to be a psycho to murder someone with intent. So in that case what’s your point Dave?

  11. That’s hard to read but thank you. This is what we do and we should be ashamed.

    I’d love to know how much taxpayers paid to hire the prosecution’s Texas psychiatric expert who has been “successful” in death penalty cases. Do we really want to be like Texas? I think not.

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