Press release from 13 May 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2004
Contact: Dana Hansen, Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Inc.
865-637-7979 for further details
Contact: Dana Hansen Chavis, Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee,
Inc.
865-637-7979 for further details
Supreme Court denies mentally ill death row inmate a hearing on competency to be executed
KNOXVILLE, TN - The Tennessee Supreme Court denied death row inmate Gregory Thompson a hearing yesterday to determine whether he is competent to be executed.
Thompson, a 42-year-old African-American, is scheduled to be executed on August 19, 2004 for the 1985 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.
Four members of the Court said it would not give Thompson a hearing finding there was not “a genuine issue regarding Thompson’s competency.”
Justice
Adolpho Birch, however, said Thompson’s extensive history of mental
illness and three experts’ opinions that Thompson is incompetent is enough
to warrant a hearing.
“State law says Thompson is not required to prove incompetence before justice
requires he be given his day in court,” said Dana Chavis, an attorney with
Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Inc.
“That is the frustration, that state law is being ignored,” Chavis said. “The function of a court hearing is to review all of the evidence and make a reasoned decision. The severity of Greg Thompson’s psychotic delusions is undisputed.”
“Gregory Thompson is so mentally ill the state sought a court order to forcibly administer anti-psychotic drugs to him, but that same state government says he is competent to be put to death,” said Chavis. “The hypocrisy of the state’s position staggers the mind.”
“Three highly qualified experts say Greg Thompson does not have the mental capacity to understand the fact of the impending August execution nor does he understand the reasons for it,” Chavis added.
She said that Thompson should not be executed without a court hearing on his mental capacity.
“The State did not offer any expert opinion contrary to the three experts
who say Greg Thompson is incompetent. In fact, just three years ago, State Attorney
General Paul Summers said Greg Thompson ‘is incapable of making rational
decisions.’”
“It is a tragedy for justice in our state that the Court overlooked substantial
evidence of incompetency,” Chavis said.
Chavis will seek a hearing in federal court. “We believe the people of Tennessee do not want the execution of an indisputably delusional and psychotic man to be committed in their name.”
In 1986, the United States Supreme Court held the execution of the insane or mentally incompetent is unconstitutional. The prohibition on executing the insane was first recognized by Tennessee in 1910.
Supporters
International Justice Project
National Mental Health Association
Tennessee Black Caucus
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