Press release from 22 Jan 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2004
Contact: Dana Hansen, Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee,
Inc., 865-637-7979 for further details
Attorney for mentally ill death row inmate condemns “blatant hypocrisy” of Tennessee attorney general’s office
KNOXVILLE, TN – “Blatant hypocrisy” is what Dana Hansen, attorney for death row inmate Gregory Thompson, calls the state attorney general’s request that the Tennessee Supreme Court set an execution date for Thompson.
Hansen today displayed a copy of a March 2001 state attorney general’s request asking that a conservator be appointed to Thompson and that Thompson be medicated, forcibly if necessary, because his mental condition is so severe that he can no longer make decisions for himself and he endangers himself, other inmates and prison guards.
She also showed a copy of yesterday’s request that an execution date be set for Thompson.
“Two of the signatures on this attorney general’s request that Mr. Thompson be medicated because he is severely mentally ill are those of State Attorney General Paul Summers and Solicitor General Michael Moore. Two of the signatures on this request that Mr. Thompson be put to death are those of Paul Summers and Michael Moore,” Hansen said.
“The state’s request for a conservator and forced medication basically said that Mr. Thompson is so mentally ill he can’t even decide for himself whether or not he needs to take an aspirin,” said Hansen. “At a hearing on the state’s motion, an attorney for the state said that they consider Mr. Thompson to be incompetent. That the state is now seeking to execute Mr. Thompson is inhumane, uncivilized and hypocritical,” Hansen says.
“We believe that as the people of Tennessee see the hypocrisy of the state seeking the death of a man the state acknowledges to be severely mentally ill, this inconsistent, contradictory system will change.”
Thompson, a 41-year-old African-American, was convicted in 1985 of the murder in Coffee County of 28-year-old Brenda Lane. Thompson killed Ms. Lane so that he could use her car to escape what he, in his delusional state, believed was a mob of Ku Klux Klan members who sought to kill him and his companion.
During the trial Thompson’s attorneys failed to present evidence of Thompson’s mental incapacity. The state argued Thompson was a killer who was faking mental illness. But soon after his arrival on death row, prison doctors began treating him with anti-psychotic medication.
Hansen displayed volumes of mental health records documenting Thompson’s mental illness and treatment over the past 18 years.
Just three years ago the state attorney general’s office, acting on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, requested that Thompson be appointed a conservator to make decisions for him including the forced administration of anti-psychotic drugs.
Thompson’s medications include the anti-psychotic drug Prolixin, mood stabilizing drug Paxil, Lithium and Cogentin.
“Without medication Thompson hallucinates, thinks he sees demons and devils, believes that there are things biting him, that electricity is shocking him and falls victim to other mental aberrations,” Hansen said. “Although the medications dull some of these symptoms, experts say Thompson remains psychotic even when medicated,” said Hansen.
“That is the condition he was in the night Brenda Lane was tragically killed,” she said. “The state knows that Gregory Thompson is severely mentally ill, otherwise it would not have petitioned a court for the approval to forcibly administer psychotropic drugs. For the state to now seek to execute Mr. Thompson is uncivilized.”
“Gregory Thompson should spend the rest of his life in state custody,” Hansen said. “He should not be executed.”
Supporters
International Justice Project
National Mental Health Association
Tennessee Black Caucus
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