Death Penalty

Both Dennis Skillicorn and Jeff Wood have received stays of execution; in both cases, they had been sentenced to death despite the fact that they did not actually kill. 

But neither stay was related to that issue. 

In Skillicorn's case, the Missouri Supreme Court chastised the state for "obstruction of clemency advocacy", for blocking his lawyer's efforts to develop a clemency petition.  Skillicorn has developed a reputation as a model prisoner engaged in multiple acts of atonement for his crimes, but efforts by his attorney to interview prisoners and prison staff were thwarted.  The court ruled that this was unacceptable. 

In the case of Woods, the Federal judge granting his stay ripped Texas courts for requiring a mentally ill defendant to prove he is insane in order to have the court appoint a mental health expert and an attorney to help him prove his insanity:

"With all due respect," the judge wrote, "a system which requires an insane person to first make a 'substantial showing' of his own lack of mental capacity without the assistance of counsel or a mental health expert, in order to obtain such assistance is, by definition, an insane system."

In their zeal to execute remorseful and mentally ill prisoners who did not kill, the states of Missouri and Texas both demonstrated a casual disregard for the legal process that higher courts, for once, have decided goes too far.

Brian

DPAC