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"60 Minutes" Segment on Mentally Ill Inmate in Tennessee

By Kristin Houle

Last night, the CBS News program "60 Minutes" featured an interview with Gregory Thompson, a severely mentally ill man who has been on death row in Tennessee for more than 20 years. His lawyers did not raise evidence of his mental illness during his trial. Thompson had an execution date in 2006, but a federal appeals court ruled that a lower court should examine evidence that Thompson was mentally ill at the time of the crime. Later, the Supreme Court narrowly overruled the decision, saying it was too late to raise that issue. According to CBS, "Thompson's lawyers are going back to federal court this month and hope to get a ruling that Thompson -- despite his medication -- is mentally incompetent and should not be executed. The Tennessee attorney general, who declined 60 Minutes' request for an interview, is expected to argue that Thompson understands why he is being punished, is not insane and,therefore, should be executed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Prevention Not Punishment on November 12, 2007 (boomark / email).