TCASK Statement in Response to Upholding the Stay for Paul Reid

“Today, both the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the stay for Paul Dennis Reid put in place yesterday by Federal District Judge Todd Campbell.

Paul Reid presents a clear case of severe, long-term, diagnosed mental illness. Reid’s diagnoses, going back to the 1970s, include schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and temporal lobe dysfunction. These produce, according to the affidavit of Dr. George Woods, ‘a chronic schizophrenia-like psychosis which has severely impaired (Reid’s) ability to weigh, deliberate, inform, and cooperate.’ Reid’s delusion ‘impels, invades, and guides his daily activities as well as decision-making processes.’

To assert, as the state has done, that Paul Reid, who believes that he is being tortured by secret government “scientific technology” and who seeks his own execution to escape from this torture, is capable of making rational decisions is disingenuous and patently false. The state’s attempts to block a full evidentiary hearing on Paul Reid’s competence violate every civilized standard of justice.

According to Sita Diehl, Executive Director of NAMI Tennessee, ‘It is unethical to execute people with disabilities. Paul Dennis Reid clearly has a psychotic disorder. It would be inhumane to execute Paul Dennis Reid, because he does not understand.’ The National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Psychological Association, the National Mental Health Association, and the National Association of Social Workers all oppose the execution of the mentally ill.

While we applaud the decision of the Sixth Circuit to allow a full competency hearing, we grieve for the families of Paul Reid’s victims. Each of these families has suffered a terrible loss and our thoughts and prayers are with them. However, TCASK believes that the execution of a man so severely mentally ill would be a gross miscarriage of justice.”

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Despite some hype from local news channels at the top of the hour, the only new development in the Paul Reid case is some serious whining by the Attorney General’s office. The U.S. Sixth Circuit has not yet ruled on the state’s motion to to vacate the stay of execution put in place by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell when the state was unable to proceed with a full competency hearing (see today’s previous post). While the Sixth Circuit is deliberating, the Attorney General has, apparently, gotten antsy. So the state has filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay, despite the fact that the Sixth Circuit has not ruled.

In a nutshell, nothing has changed, we are still awaiting a ruling from the Sixth Circuit on the state’s motion, and we hope that the Supreme Court will not rule until the Sixth Circuit does.

The death warrant initially issued for Paul Reid is valid until 11:59 pm tonight. If no court has lifted the stay by that time, the state will be forced to go back to the Tennessee Supreme Court and ask for a new execution date to be set.

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While we wait expectantly to hear if the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals chooses justice or injustice for Paul Reid, I thought we might share a few of the stories and pictures in the news last night.

The Tennessean included a photo gallery of pictures from our vigil in Nashville.

News Channel 5 put together a nice piece right after the execution featuring TCASK’s youngest board member Katherine Lea – Protestors Gather Outside Prison.

And Volunteer TV in Knoxville did a very nice piece on the Knoxville Chapters vigil featuring TCASK board member Katie Blackburn and former board member Lo Presser.

As usual, Fox 17’s coverage of the execution was sensationalistic, unbalanced, and uninformative.

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As tragic and patently unfair as the state’s execution of Sedley Alley was at 2:12 this morning, with the case of Paul Reid still in limbo today, the state and the Attorney General’s office are trying to top their own standards of injustice.

Yesterday, Paul Reid and his attorneys were in the federal court challenging the state’s contention that Paul Reid was mentally competent to end his appeals. For a little background, Paul Reid has diagnoses, going back to the 1970s, including schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and temporal lobe dysfunction. In layman’s terms, he is severely mentally ill and brain damaged, living in a perpetual delusional state. With all of this evidence, including the testimony of Dr. George Woods (pg. 59 of the link), Judge Campbell, not surprisingly, ruled that Reid’s attorneys had made a prima facie showing of mental illness. Consequently, the judge ruled that a full evidentiary hearing on Reid’s competency was necessary. So far, all of this sounds completely reasonable, but then, the state and the A.G. spoke again.

Judge Campbell was willing to proceed with a full evidentiary hearing on the spot yesterday or even today if necessary, a course of action that would not have required a stay of execution. The defense was ready to proceed with more expert testimony and documents. But the state conceded that it was not ready for an evidentiary hearing, because it needed to have its own expert evaluate Reid. So the judge granted a stay of execution to allow the hearing to go forward when the state was prepared. The Attorney General is in the Sixth Circuit today challenging that stay!

Attorney General Paul Summers claims that the defense was dilatory in bringing this claim to the court, despite the fact the Reid’s attorneys have been challenging his competency for years. The A.G. also claimed that it had had no opportunity to evaluate Reid, and therefore complained that the stay was unfair, even though the state has had Reid in its custody for the past 9 years! Does Paul Summers expect anyone to believe that the state didn’t know that Paul Reid’s competency was in question, after thousands of pages of legal filings on the issue? And to then claim that, even though it was his office that was unprepared to have an evidentiary hearing and therefore provoked the stay, the defense was dilatory and that the stay should not have been granted smacks of the most callous disregard for life and for justice imaginable.

Our thoughts and prayers today are with the families of Angela Holmes, Michelle Mace and all of Paul Reid’s victims today. The loss of their loved ones was an absolute tragedy. But our thoughts are also with Linda Martiniano, Paul Reid’s sister, who may also become the survivor of a homicide victim. The 6th Circuit will rule today on the state’s motion to vacate the stay. If justice prevails, they will vote to uphold the stay and hold the evidentiary hearing that the state is so afraid of.

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Very early this morning, the state of Tennessee killed Sedley Alley. Roughly an hour before the scheduled execution, a stay was issued by Judge Gil Merritt of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court. As 1:00 approached the stay was still in place and people began to drift away from the vigil at Riverbend Prison, exhausted and drained from the ordeal. No one, not the media, not the warden, not the abolitionists seemed to know what was happening. All anyone knew was that a stay was in place and that the state was challenging it.

But shortly after 1:00, the news came. The stay had been overturned and Sedley Alley would be executed shortly thereafter. It was a little after 2:00 when the word came to the forty vigilers gathered in a circle of candle light. Sedley Alley was dead.

In the end, it did not matter that there was serious doubt as to whether Sedley Alley was even guilty of Suzanne Collins’ murder. In the end it did not matter that the state possessed DNA evidence that could have conclusively demonstrated guilt or innocence. No, in the end all that mattered was that vengeance was called for.

Doing innumerable interviews after the execution shattered our circle and our hopes, I repeated the same message to reporters:

“When a person is executed, the official cause of death is homicide. The murder of Suzanne Marie Collins was a tragedy and our hearts go out to the members of her family, who must now live as the survivors of a homicide victim. But let us not forget that the state of Tennessee has now made Sedley Alley’s innocent children, April and David, the survivors of a homicide victim as well.”

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After the Tennessee state courts slammed the door on a clear case of serious mental illness, Federal District Court Judge Todd Campbell has called for a full competency hearing. Paul Dennis Reid’s mental health diagnoses, dating back to the 1970s, include schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and temporal lobe dysfunction. We are relieved that the state will not execute a man with long diagnosed brain damage and mental illness without a full inquiry into his mental competency.

The near execution of Paul Reid calls attention to Tennessee’s continuing practice of sentencing the mentally ill to death. Across the nation, one quarter of death row inmates suffer from severe, diagnosed mental illness, while more than 80% suffer from some mental impairment. Executing the mentally ill, who have diminished capacity for assisting in their defense, understanding their situations, and comprehending the consequences of their actions, is an abdication of justice. The execution of the mentally ill is opposed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

While we are pleased that the courts have upheld justice for people with severe mental illness like Paul Reid, we continue to grieve for the pain and loss experienced by the families of his victims. We regret that the capital punishment system continues to re-traumatize the family members of murder victims during the emotional roller coaster of the capital appeals process. For the sake of victims’ families, as well as justice and fairness, we continue to call for a halt to all executions.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual claim among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Paul Reid’s request for a stay of execution was denied by the state court of criminal appeals today. Even worse, the Governor has just refused Reid’s request for clemency. In denying clemency, Governor Phil Bredesen hid behind the argument that the courts have been examining the issue of Reid’s mental competency. Despite his assertion that politics does not play a role in his decision, the Governor decided to give himself political cover by passing the buck to the court system instead of taking a principled stand. Since 1993, Governors of Missouri, Virginia, Georgia, Nevada, Louisiana, and Indiana have granted clemency due to concerns about the inmate’s mental competency. Apparently Bredesen, who said “I do not believe that intervention by my office through the use of the Governor’s clemency power is appropriate,” is unaware of this.

You can read the Governors (curt) denial here.

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Sedley Alley, scheduled to die in Tennessee’s double execution tonight, has challenges before several courts today. These challenges generally focus on two basic arguments, that the state should allow DNA testing to ascertain if Alley is truly guilty and a challenge to the state’s lethal injection procedure.

Of course the state scoffs at these challenges. Alley confessed to the murder, they say, and his lethal injection arguments are based on nothing but an attempt to delay his execution. But these are real issues.

Yesterday, four inmates who have been exonerated by the exact same type of DNA testing that Alley is requesting asked permission to file an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court. Moreover, Alley’s confession is extremely questionable, since the facts that he confessed to do not match the facts of the crime. And false confessions do happen frequently, particularly when, as in Alley’s case, interrogations are not fully or properly taped. Yesterday’s L.A. Times ran an in depth article of true stories of false confessions. Read the piece here.

In Missouri, a judge has put a halt to all executions in that state due to concerns about painful lethal injection procedures. Read the full story here.

Clearly, the issues that Sedley Alley is raising are of concern across the country. We should, obviously, be concerned with the possibility of executing an innocent person, and we should be concerned that the method by which we do so might be tantamount to torture. Hopefully Tennessee will do the right thing as we move through the day.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Today the Tennessean carried an op-ed piece by Charlie Strobel. Charlie was previously the pastor of holy Name Catholic Church (where our current offices are located) and then founded and continues to direct the Campus for Human Development. Charlie also has faced the tragedy of having his mother murdered.

Charlie’s letter is a beautiful and cogent reminder that revenge is not the answer, and that many families who have lost a loved one to murder do not want to see another murder in response. As I sat in mass this morning, in the very church where Charlie used to preach, the Gospel reading was from the book of Matthew; it included the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This great moral message, which can be found, in some form across all faiths and people of conscience is particularly timely as we face today’s double execution. It does not read do unto others as they have done to you, which seems to be the rhetoric of those who support the death penalty. Instead it calls us to forgive and to heal. Charlie’s beautiful words, backed by his personal story and integrity, bring this home to us now. We can only hope that the state of Tennessee can be moved by the same message.

To read Charlie’s piece, click here.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile malfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Attorneys for Paul Reid have requested clemency from the Governor. There is a lengthy precedent of Governors granting clemency for those suffering from severe mental illness, and there is certainly no question that Reid falls into that category.

Paul Reid has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and temporal lobe dysfunction resulting from grievous childhood abuse. He has lived in a persistently delusional state for the last 30 years, in which he believes that he is the target of a vast conspiracy by the “military government” which controls everyone he has been in contact with and experiments on him “like a rat” to deny him success and force him to commit crimes. He believes that he has been selected to breed with a millionaire’s wife and that, were it not for the interference of the military government, he would be a wealthy lawyer at a big law firm in Houston. He even believes that he is being tortured by “scientific technology” and that the only way to escape this torture is to allow himself to be executed.

There can be no question that Paul Reid is severely mentally ill. In the U.S., we claim that we don’t execute the insane, and yet Paul Reid sits on death watch, only 15 hours from execution.

Please immediately call Governor Bredesen at (615) 741-2001 or email him at phil.bredesen@state.tn.us Tell the Governor that executing a man as obviously mentally ill as Paul Reid is immoral and ask him to grant Paul Reid’s request for clemency.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.