Criminal Law

MVFHR/NAMI Gather Next Week in San Antonio

Posted on September 23, 2008
Media AdvisorySeptember 23, 2008National Project LaunchMurder Victims? Families Oppose Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental IllnessesWashington, D.C.? Murder Victims? Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will launch a national project opposing the death penalty for persons with severe mental illnesses at a press conference in San Antonio, Texas on October 3...

NAMI/MVFHR Gathering in San Antonio

Posted on September 15, 2008
This column by Dr. María Félix-Ortiz appeared in the San Antonio Express-News on September 10, 2008.Capital punishment of the mentally ill focus of meetingThis new millennium has seen substantial review of capital punishment.In 2002, in Atkins vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court wrote that the intellectually disabled can be competent, ?but, by definition, they have diminished capacities to understand and process information, to communicate, to abstract from mistakes and learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, to control impulses, and to understand others' reactions...

Public Gathering of Families Impacted by Mental Illness and the Death Penalty

Posted on September 04, 2008
Here's a media advisory from Murder Victims? Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) regarding a public gathering that will take place in San Antonio on Friday, October 3 at the University of Incarnate Word. If you live in San Antonio and are interested in helping with this event, please contact me at khouletx@gmail...

Effort to ban the death penalty for offenders with mental illness gains momentum in Kentucky

Posted on September 04, 2008
Here's an excerpt from a lengthy article that appeared on September 3 in LEO, the alternative weekly paper in Louisville, Kentucky. The article ("Crazy and Condemned - Kentucky Could Be the First State to Ban Executions of the Severely Mentally Ill") chronicles an emerging effort in Kentucky to secure a legislative prohibition on the death penalty for offenders with severe mental illness...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Upholding Legal Rights of Mentally Ill Defendants

Posted on August 25, 2008
That's the title of a new posting on the blog Women in Crime Ink, by Lucy Puryear, M.D.: "On June 19, 2008, the Supreme Court of the U.S. issued a decision in which it held that a higher standard must be used to determine defendants' competence to represent themselves in criminal cases than the test used to determine the accuseds' competence to stand trial...

Judge Orders Competency Evaluation for Jeff Wood

Posted on August 22, 2008
Just hours before the execution of Jeff Wood was scheduled to take place, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio granted a request by Wood's attorneys to delay the execution so they could hire a mental health expert to pursue their arguments that he is incompetent to be executed...

Jeff Wood Receives Stay of Execution

Posted on August 21, 2008
A federal judge has granted a request to delay the execution of Jeff Wood, in order to allow his attorneys to hire a mental health expert to pursue their arguments that he is incompetent to be executed.Here's a press release from Texas Defender Service:STAY OF EXECUTION GRANTED IN TEXAS DEATH PENALTY CASE OF MENTALLY-ILL INMATE WHO WAS NOT TRIGGERMANWOOD EXECUTION HALTED BASED ON TEXAS STATE COURTS FAILURE TO PROVIDE DUE PROCESS ON ISSUES RELATING TO WOOD'S MENTAL ILLNESSAustin -- Today, the Federal District Court granted a stay of execution in the case of Jeff Wood to allow the court to consider compelling evidence that Jeff Wood is too mentally ill to be executed...

More on TX Inmate Jeff Wood

Posted on August 21, 2008
The following AP story contains more information about Jeff Wood's mental impairments ("Lawyers try to block execution set for Thursday," August 20, 2008). His attorneys have argued that Wood's delusions render him incompetent to be executed."Lawyers for condemned prisoner Jeffery Wood say his mental problems led him to get involved in a robbery scheme that left a Texas Hill Country store clerk murdered in a fatal shooting carried out by a partner while Wood sat outside in a car...

Controversial Execution in Texas Set For This Evening

Posted on August 21, 2008
AFP has the following story about Jeff Wood, who is scheduled to be executed in Texas this evening, barring any last-minute intervention by Governor Rick Perry ("US to Execute Mentally Ill Man," August 21, 2008). Wood was convicted under the "law of parties," even though he was not involved in the shooting death of Kriss Keeran and in fact was standing outside the convenience store when the murder took place...

LA County Jail - The Nation's Largest Mental Institution

Posted on August 18, 2008
NPR's recent series on the U.S. prison population featured a story entitled "Inside The Nation's Largest Mental Institution," which focuses on the 1,400 mentally ill inmates in the Los Angeles County Jail.Read a summary of the story or listen to the segment in its entirety here.

More on the Private Mental Health Defender's Office in Lubbock

Posted on August 18, 2008
Texas Lawyer reports that the Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (LCDLA) aims this fall to create a private defender's office that will represent indigent defendants with mental health issues ("First and Goal: LCDLA Close to Creating Nonprofit to Run Private Defender's Office," August 11, 2008)...

More on George Banks Competency Hearing

Posted on August 18, 2008
The Citizens Voice, out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, has this update on the competency hearing of death row inmate George Banks ("Final expert says Banks incompetent for execution," August 16, 2008):"The psychological disorders that have turned mass murderer George Banks into a rambling paranoid have not improved since before he was scheduled to be executed in December 2004, psychiatrist Richard G...

TX Death Row Inmate Raymond Riles - Incompetent to be Executed, Still on Death Row

Posted on August 13, 2008
KPRC Local 2 news in Houston recently investigated the case of Texas death row inmate Raymond Riles, who has been declared incompetent to be executed on numerous occasions. Riles has spent more than 30 years on death row and will remain there indefinitely, despite the fact that the state is not seeking an execution date (and has not done so since 1986)...

Improving Interactions Between Law Enforcement and the Mentally Ill

Posted on August 12, 2008
A recent issue of Newsweek magazine reports on programs aimed at improving police officers' response to persons with severe mental illness ("Cops and the Mentally Ill," July 31, 2008). The law enforcement community is on the front lines in addressing the needs of those with severe mental illness, given the shortage of services and treatment facilities...

Is Mentally Ill Inmate Competent to be Executed?

Posted on August 12, 2008
Here's an article from The Scranton Times-Tribune regarding Pennsylvania death row inmate George Banks ("Banks' mental capacity will be at issue at hearing," August 11, 2008), who suffers from severe mental illness. A hearing will take place later this week to determine whether Banks should be declared incompetent to be executed...

Agencies Struggle to Provide Mental Health Services in Central Texas

Posted on July 28, 2008
In "Mentally Ill Don't Belong in Jailhouse" (July 27, 2008), the Temple Daily Telegram presents a compelling and comprehensive picture of the issues facing people with severe mental illness in Central Texas. It also explores the limitations imposed on government agencies, given funding cuts, a decrease in facilities, and other constraints...

Possible New Mental Health Court in Smith County

Posted on July 28, 2008
The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that Smith County commissioners have been asked to establish a ?mental health court,? with the aim of providing better care for offenders with mental illness and reducing jail overcrowding ("Commissioners To Consider Creating ? Mental Health Court ?", July 27, 2008)...

PA Death Row Inmates Can Be Forcibly Medicated

Posted on July 28, 2008
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that two death row inmates with mental illness can be forcibly medicated in order to render them competent to continue their appeals and face execution.Texas courts have addressed this issue in the case of death row inmate Steven Staley, who has been diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia and believes that he is being poisoned by medication...

Costs of Mental Health Care Overwhelm Harris County Jail

Posted on July 21, 2008
Today's Houston Chronicle features the following article about the revolving door of severely mentally ill homeless offenders in the Harris County Jail ("Finding escape behind bars," July 21, 2008). Many of these inmates have been arrested on dozens of occasions; many have substance abuse disorders in addition to mental disorders...

Texas Mother to Remain in State Mental Hospital

Posted on July 18, 2008
Below is an update on the case of Deanna Laney, from the Tyler Morning Telegraph ("Woman Who Stoned Children to Death Will Remain in Mental Facility," July 8, 2008). Ms. Laney was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of her children...

New Private Mental Health Defenders Office in Lubbock

Posted on July 15, 2008
KCBD, NewsChannel 11 in Lubbock reports that officials in Lubbock County have received funding for a new program aimed at diverting offenders with mental illness from jail and providing them with quality legal representation ("New Program Addresses Lubbock County Inmate Mental Health," July 10, 2008)...

Government Agencies and Foundations Invest in Mental Healthcare

Posted on July 08, 2008
Here's an update from the Austin American-Statesman on efforts aimed at increasing funding for mental health services in Austin/Travis County ("Spending on mental illness sees a sudden boost," July 5, 2008):"... Across Austin and in other parts of Texas, foundations and government organizations are giving more money to programs that help people with mental illnesses ? an area that advocates say has long been underfunded in Texas...

North Carolina Inmate Found Incompetent for Execution

Posted on July 02, 2008
According to the Associated Press (and reported in the Times-News Online), a Superior Court judge has found Guy LeGrande incompetent for execution ("Judge: NC inmate too ill for execution," July 1, 2008). LeGrande has been on death row in North Carolina since 1996...

The History of Crisis Intervention Teams

Posted on June 30, 2008
The June 2008 issue of Law Enforcement Technology features an interesting article on the history of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT), pioneered by the Memphis Police Department.Here are a few excerpts:"The program builds a team of officers available to respond to calls that partner with families, mental health providers and individuals who are diagnosed with mental diseases...

Capital Murder Defendant Found Competent After Fourth Hearing

Posted on June 30, 2008
The San Antonio Express-News reports that the case of Vincent Seard, who has been found incompetent to stand trial as a result of his severe mental illness on three prior occasions, is now ready to proceed ("Slayings suspect ruled OK for trial," June 17, 2008)...

Coverage of the Indiana v. Edwards Decision

Posted on June 23, 2008
The New York Times has this coverage of last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Indiana v. Edwards ("Self-Representation by the Mentally Ill Is Curbed," June 20, 2008):"A mentally ill defendant who is nonetheless competent to stand trial is not necessarily competent to dispense with a lawyer and represent himself, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday...

U.S. Supreme Court Places Limits on Self-Representation

Posted on June 19, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in Indiana v. Edwards that defendants with severe mental illness who are found competent to stand trial do not necessarily have the right to represent themselves. The Court heard arguments in the case earlier this spring...

More on Scott Panetti

Posted on June 18, 2008
From the Houston Chronicle ("Austin judge finds inmate sane enough for execution; More appeals are likely in the landmark case," June 17, 2008):For 15 years, Scott Panetti has been Example No. 1 of the problems that result when mental illness crosses paths with the criminal justice system...

Washington Post Editorial on Percy Walton

Posted on June 17, 2008
From June 12, 2008:A Courageous CommutationMr. Kaine spares the life of a man on death row."Timothy M. Kaine (D), a confidant of Barack Obama's and the first governor outside Illinois to endorse the senator's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, is routinely mentioned as a vice-presidential prospect...

NAMI Poll on Perceptions of Schizophrenia

Posted on June 10, 2008
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) recently commissioned a poll from Harris Interactive regarding public awareness of and attitudes towards schizophrenia.Here are some of the findings, pulled from the NAMI report:Two million Americans are living with schizophrenia (1% of the nation's population age 18 or older)...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.