Florida Challenged on Determining Sanity of Condemned Inmates

Florida Challenged on Determining Sanity of Condemned Inmates

Ford, Alvin E. (Alvin Earle), 1937-

Prisoners--Mental health services.

United States. Supreme Court.

Determining whether a person is competent to be executed should be left to judges and not governors. Psychiatrists have no real guidelines for examining the competence of a death row inmate.

The New York Times

HIST 298, University of Mary Washington

1986-04-08

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English

Jacksonville, FL

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 7 (AP)
— On the eve of his execution date in November 1984, Gary Alvord was interviewed by three psychiatrists who asked him about his understanding of of how and why he was to die in the electric chair.

The doctors reported their findings to Gov. Bob Graham. He decided Mr. Alvord did not understand the impending punishment, so the inmate was sent to a state mental institution.
This month, in a separate capital punishment case, the United States Supreme Court is to hear arguments on whether the Constitution protects the mentally incompetent from execution and whether Florida's method of determining competence is proper.
The Florida law says that if the inmate "understands the nature of the death penalty and why it is to be imposed on him" he can be executed.

A 'Narrow and Precise' Issue

"That's a very, very narrow and precise thing," said Dr. David Taubel, director of mental health for the State Department of Corrections. "If a person knows he is going to be executed because he killed a person, he fits the definition of competence in the law."
Opponents say the law improperly leaves the decision to the Governor, in this case one who has ordered more than 100 execution, 13 of which have been carried out.
Dick Burr, a public defender, said: "We believe the decision of competence should be made by a judge, not by the Governor. The Governor of this state is too pro-death. The decision should be decided by a neutral judicial process."

Another Man Awaits Outcome

Mr. Burr had raised the competency question on behalf of Alvin Ford, another death row inmate. His is the case the Supreme Court is scheduled to review.
Mr. Ford's lawyers say that since he entered prison 11 years ago for the 1974 killing of a Fort Lauderdale police officer he has gone insane and is "flamboyantly schizophrenic."
The state maintains that Mr. Ford is mentally competent to be executed.

Also awaiting the court's ruling will be Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., who was determined fit to be executed by a panel of psychiatrists who examined him March 6.
His attorneys say the inmate has amnesia and does not remember the day in January 1978 that an 8-year-old Ocala girl was strangled, the death for which he was convicted.
Dr. Ernest Miller, one of the psychiatrists who examined Mr. Adams, said competency should be decided in a court setting "and stand the test of adversarial proceedings."

"Let the psychiatrists defend their reasoning," said Dr. Miller, of University Hospital in Jacksonville.
In a recent interview, Governor Graham said the issue was whether the inmate understood what the punishment was while execution was imminent. "It's not a question of guilt or innocence," he added.
Dr. George Barnard, a University of Florida psychiatrist who participated in one panel considering competence and vows never to do it again, said that no clear standards governed what the psychiatrists should do and how they should report and that a more detailed examination was needed.
In Mr. Adam's case the psychiatrists asked him if he knew why they were examining him, if he understood the execution process, his feelings about his family, what he remembered about the day of the crime, what his trial defense was and what he had for lunch the day before, said Michael Radelet, a sociologist at the University of Florida.
"They didn't gather enough information or the right information," said Mr. Radelet, who sat in on the interview.
Mike Mello, who helped defend Mr. Adams, questioned how three psychiatrists could rule that he was competent to die in the hour they spent with him in what he called a "circus environment."

They psychiatrists reported to the Governor's office. Governor Graham determined that Mr. Adams could die the next morning. The execution was stayed by the Supreme Court.

Mr. Mello, who researched the competency issue in the Adams and Ford cases, sail all that defense attorneys wanted was "a fair determination of competency."

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Steele, Andrew

Williams, Megan