|
  |
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Death row case raises insanity defense paradox
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- In the latest bizarre turn in a nearly 25-year-old death row case, a federal appeals court ruled that a mentally ill inmate can be put to death even though he would be too insane to qualify for execution without his medication. A sharply divided 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay of execution Monday for Charles Singleton, saying his medically induced sanity makes him eligible for the death penalty.
Singleton's defense argued that the Arkansas inmate was in a precarious situation: taking anti-psychotic medication was in his interest -- but not if the resulting sanity puts him on the path to the death chamber. Six of the 11 judges on the St. Louis-based panel said that because Singleton prefers to be medicated, and because Arkansas has an interest in having sane inmates, the side-effect of sanity should not affect his fate. The four dissenting judges said it would be wrong to execute Singleton, who becomes paranoid and delusional when not medicated, and sometimes is still psychotic while medicated. One judge abstained. "Based on the medical history in this case, I am left with no alternative but to conclude that drug-induced sanity is not the same as true sanity," dissenting Judge Gerald Heaney wrote. "Singleton is not 'cured'; his insanity is merely muted, at times, by the powerful drugs he is forced to take." In October 2001, a panel of the 8th Circuit ruled that Singleton be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The state appealed, and the court reversed that ruling Monday. Assistant Attorney General Kelly Hill said Monday that the state had to continue pursuing the case because Singleton was sentenced to death. "We are going to do our statutory and constitutional duty," Hill said. "If the court says it is constitutional ... we will take the necessary steps. If the court says it is unconstitutional, we will abide by that decision." Singleton was convicted of stabbing grocer Mary Lou York to death in a 1979 robbery. She identified him as her attacker before dying. Singleton's lawyer, Jeff Rosenzweig, said he would likely ask the 8th Circuit to withhold a final order -- which would authorize Gov. Mike Huckabee to set an execution date -- so he can take the case to the Supreme Court. "This is one that the Supreme Court may want to look at," Rosenzweig said. "The question is whether you can execute a man whose sanity is artificially induced." "What is the power of the state to give medical treatment that has the effect of causing his execution?" Rosenzweig added. "You should forbid execution under those circumstances." Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Singleton is not 'cured'; his insanity is merely muted, at times, by the powerful drugs he is forced to take.
