Severely mentally ill inmate gets off death row

[pumpkinpie]

Severely Mentally Ill Death Row Inmate Resentenced to Life 27 Years After Crime

Richard Taylor, a death row inmate in Tennessee suffering from severe mental illness, was resentenced to life without the possibility of parole after a plea bargain with the state. Taylor was convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of a prison guard in 1981 after the prison had stopped giving him his anti-psychotic medication. Deputy District Attorney Derek Smith said, “Our office decided that it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost to retry this case in other prosecutions.” According to one of his attorneys, Cassandra Stubbs of the ACLU, the correctional facility considered Taylor to be mentally ill, knew he had previously tried to kill himself by swallowing glass, but decided to stop giving him his psychiatric medication.

Since being convicted of the murder, Taylor reportedly received no psychiatric services. After his first conviction was overturned, Taylor was allowed to represent himself at a second trial, wearing prison garb and sunglasses. He made bizarre and delusional statements and presented no defense. That conviction was also overturned. Defense attorney Stubbs said, “Like other defendants who fall into this tragic category [of severe mental illness, he] was trapped by his own delusions and was incapable of presenting a defense or introduc[ing] the very evidence necessary to save his life.”

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2735&scid=64

[legallybrunette]

On a sort of related note, I have recently been informed by my penpal's (still whinging ) mother that he is very likely to have his death sentence commuted this summer, to life without parole. I was just wondering whether the only means by which under California law, such sentence may be further reduced so as to allow the possibility of parole, is by means of the Governor's intervention? I had understood this was prohibited until the imprisonment had passed the 30 year mark. What is the actual position?? Also, she says that recent state legislature has determined that Mexican nationals or those able to establish some form of ethnic connection with Mexico, can seek a transfer to Mexico to continue their sentence. She is a bit dim so I take much of what she says with a pinch of salt but was curious in any event.

[happyhaddock]

Jun 20, 2008 19:08:18 GMT -5 legallybrunette said:

Also, she says that recent state legislature has determined that Mexican nationals or those able to establish some form of ethnic connection with Mexico, can seek a transfer to Mexico to continue their sentence. She is a bit dim so I take much of what she says with a pinch of salt but was curious in any event.

Those in US or Mexican prisons are often able to complete their sentences in Canada if they are residents of that nation.

[biglinmarshall]

Thank goodness the court saw sense.

I'm completely opposed to executing severely mentally ill people.