The blog below was written last Thursday. Update: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to issue a stay and the state of Florida executed John Ferguson last night, Monday, Aug. 5 at 6:17 p.m. ET. You can read the statement issued by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on the execution here.  Andrew Cohen also wrote this opinion editorial in The Atlantic which highlights the inconsistencies of the Supreme Court.

Florida death row inmate John Ferguson is scheduled to be executed on August 5^th despite a long history of severe mental illness. Ronald Honberg, the National Director for Policy and Legal Affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), writes in his article for The Huffington Post that Ferguson’s execution would offend the Constitution and that his case represents failures of our mental health system.

“John Ferguson thinks he is the ‘Prince of God.’  He has thought so for decades. Mr. Ferguson believes that he can’t be killed and his body will not remain in a grave. Rather, he will assume his seat at the right hand of God, come back to life, and save America from a communist plot.

John Ferguson suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. In the terminology of the Supreme Court, he is ‘insane.'”

Ferguson, 65, has been on death row for 35 years, convicted of multiple murders committed shortly after his release from psychiatric institutional care despite warnings from his doctors of his extremely dangerous and homicidal state.

Seven different Florida psychiatrists have found Ferguson to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, delusions, and hallucinations. By setting his execution despite these findings, Florida is contradicting the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits executions of “a person who is insane and lacks a rational understanding of why he is being put to death and the effect of the death penalty.” Florida deemed Ferguson competent for execution on the basis that he is “factually aware of his impending execution.” As Honberg notes in his article, Florida has used an incorrect standard in this case because Ferguson still does not rationally understand the reasons for his execution or its effect. The Florida Supreme Court is, thus, not upholding the U.S. Supreme Court precedent if it applies an incorrect legal standard for competency.

Honberg also points to broader concerns arising from this case. “Mr. Ferguson’s case is proof positive of the failings of our mental health system, and if the State of Florida has its way, his execution will chillingly demonstrate the fatal injustices that people with mental illness face in our court system.”

It is now up to the Supreme Court to review the petition filed by Ferguson’s attorneys, review the case, and hopefully intervene.

Florida is not the only state where individuals with severe and persistent mental illness face execution. Tennessee also has sentenced individuals to death who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness. In fact, 60 Minutes on CBS first featured a story in 2007 on Gregory Thompson, an inmate on Tennessee’s death row, who must be medicated in order to be competent enough to execute.

Just two years ago, NAMI TN advocated for legislation in Tennessee that would exclude individuals with severe and persistent mental illness from the death penalty, making life without the possibility for parole the maximum punishment available. Though NAMI generated bi-partisan support, the bill never got out of committee. Given that pursuing the death penalty is far more expensive than the alternatives, perhaps states would be better served to eliminate the death penalty, particularly for these very ill individuals, and use the savings to ensure those with severe mental illness have access to the treatment that they need for as long as they need it to prevent such tragedies from happening in the first place.

Photo of FL death chamber via TCPalm.com

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