Dang, I was up at the store a few minutes ago, refillin' my DP cup as I am wont to do on occasion, as many of my regular readers know. Anyway, for about the fifth or sixth time today, I caught the headlines of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Two different stories really bothered me. Of course, as I have found from previous experience, if I just link them, first of all, you might not be able to see them unless you register and, secondly, I have actually seen such stories impossible to find after a month or so. As such, I am gonna show the headlines here and post the entire stories in the extended entries, just in case the links are not usable.
Plea rejected, mentally ill man executed
Teachers show video of beheading
I am almost positive you can see why these stories attracted my attention. They are both alarmin' situations, so visit the extended entry and read the stories in their entirety.
Posted on Wed, May. 19, 2004Plea rejected, mentally ill man executed
By Mike Tolson
Houston ChronicleHUNTSVILLE - A convicted killer with a long history of severe mental illness was executed Tuesday, shortly after Gov. Rick Perry denied his clemency request without acknowledging a rare recommendation by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that the sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.
In a prepared statement, Perry said that the decision was difficult because of Kelsey Patterson's medical history, but that several courts had reviewed the case and found no legal reason to bar his execution.
Perry did not mention the clemency recommendation or say why he disagreed with it.
"This defendant is a very violent individual," Perry said. "Texas has no life-without-parole sentencing option, and no one can guarantee this defendant would never be freed to commit other crimes were his sentence commuted. In the interest of justice and public safety, I am denying the defendant's request for clemency and a stay."
Texas resumed executions in 1982. The board's 5-1 vote Monday was its first recommendation that the governor commute a death sentence at such a late stage, The Associated Press reported.
Patterson's attorney, Gary Hart, expressed dismay after Perry rejected the clemency recommendation.
"They gave lip service to it being a hard case," Hart said after the governor's office called him and read Perry's statement. "But the ultimate justification was of a mad dog that had to be shot. That's the image I got after hearing their statement."
Hart praised the parole board for considering the "totality of the picture" involving Patterson's history with the state mental health system, which seldom kept him hospitalized for more than a few months. He also criticized Perry for "sweeping aside" the parole board's judgment.
"How can you end your statement by emphasizing his violence and not mentioning his mental illness?" Hart asked.
Relatives and friends of Louis Oates and Dorothy Harris, the business owner and secretary whom Patterson killed in 1992, called Perry's decision courageous.
"I want to personally thank all the courts involved and everyone who upheld the verdict," said Michele Smith, Harris' daughter. She spoke shortly after witnessing the execution.
"And I want to thank the governor for giving me a chance to start again and have an end to such a horrible time in my life. I started the day very pessimistic, but it ended like I prayed it would," Smith said.
Genevieve Tarlton Hearon, executive director of the Austin-based Capacity for Justice, said her group and 32 other mental health advocacy organizations wrote Perry on Tuesday encouraging him to approve clemency.
"I'm sorry for Texas," she said Tuesday night. "It's an embarrassment."
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executing mentally retarded killers is unconstitutional but has not extended that protection to the mentally ill.
On Tuesday afternoon, the high court denied Patterson's final appeal.
Patterson, 50, was mumbling incoherently on the death-chamber gurney when witnesses were brought to the viewing rooms.
"Murderer ... no kin, no kin," he said quietly. "I'm not guilty of the charge of capital murder ... acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeals."
When warden Joe Fernald asked whether he had a final statement, Patterson responded: "Statement to what? Statement to what?"
Patterson rambled for about two minutes. "I'm not guilty of the charge of capital murder," he repeated. "They're doing this to steal my money. My truth will always be my truth. No kin to you ... undertaker ... murderer. Go to hell. Get my money. Give me my rights. Give me my rights. Give me my life back."
The flow of lethal chemicals stilled his mumbling. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., becoming the ninth inmate executed in Texas this year.
Patterson was convicted of capital murder in his hometown of Palestine for killing Oates, 63, and Harris, 41, who worked at Oates' oil company.
According to trial testimony, he walked about a block from his home to where Oates was standing on a loading dock at his business. Patterson came up behind Oates, shot him in the head with a .38-caliber pistol and started walking away. When Harris saw what had happened and began screaming, Patterson grabbed her and shot her in the head.
Then he went home, removed his clothes except for his socks, and was arrested walking on the street in front of his home.
Patterson's family had tried to have him committed to a mental facility shortly before the slayings, but authorities rejected the request because he had not harmed or threatened anyone.
After Patterson shot a co-worker in Dallas in 1980, doctors diagnosed his illness as paranoid schizophrenia. He spent much of that decade in and out of state mental hospitals. He was not prosecuted in the first assault or two others that followed because authorities determined that he was delusional at the time of the attacks.
During his trial in the Palestine slayings, Patterson was repeatedly expelled from the courtroom for outbursts. He frequently talked about "remote control devices" and "implants" that controlled him, according to The Associated Press.
While on Death Row, he told people and wrote nearly incomprehensible letters to courts about having amnesty and a permanent stay of execution.
Hart argued that Patterson's sentence should be commuted because his mental illness makes him less culpable for his criminal acts. In his letter to Perry requesting a reprieve, Hart contended that Patterson had remained delusional during his time on Death Row and was not competent for execution.
State law requires only that a condemned prisoner understand that his execution is imminent and comprehend the reason underlying it. At a March court hearing in state court, Patterson acknowledged the judge's statements regarding the pending execution but continued to insist -- as he has for years -- that he would not be executed because he had received "amnesty rights based on innocence" from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Patterson, who insisted he was not mentally ill, did not cooperate with his attorney or mental health professionals assigned to determine his competency. He refused to complete paperwork associated with an execution, such as picking a last meal or selecting witnesses.
Prison officials said that a tray of sandwiches and cookies was available before his execution, and that he was offered and accepted a candy bar and a soft drink.
In March, Perry commuted a death sentence for the first time since taking office in 2000. That inmate is mentally retarded and was not within hours of a scheduled execution.
In 1998, four days before former self-confessed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was to die, then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted his sentence after questions were raised about the conviction. Bush commuted no other death sentences in his six years in office, during which 152 inmates were executed.
Patterson was the 324th inmate put to death since executions resumed in Texas in 1982. Two executions are scheduled for June.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Posted on Wed, May. 19, 2004Posted by notGeorge at May 19, 2004 11:44 PM | TrackBackTeachers show video of beheading
By Terry Webster and Sarah Bahari
Star-Telegram Staff WritersFORT WORTH - Two Northwest High School teachers have been suspended for showing students the video of American Nicholas Berg being beheaded in Iraq, Northwest district officials said Tuesday.
The video was shown to some juniors and seniors Friday and Monday during a total of three class periods, including a social studies class, said officials at the school in far north Fort Worth. Students said it was also shown in a health, science and technology class.
Northwest Superintendent Keith Sockwell said the teachers' judgment was "very inappropriate." He declined to identify the teachers, who are on paid administrative leave.
"I'm not sure how the DVD got into the classroom. But, apparently, students were allowed to view that video, and it appears all of the way through," he said.
The video shows Berg, of West Chester, Pa., being beheaded by a terrorist wielding a knife while four others look on. The grainy video was displayed on a Web site May 11.
Some Northwest High students, including those who had viewed the video, said they thought the teachers' suspension was an overreaction. The video was shown in at least one health, science and technology class in conjunction with a current events day Friday after a student downloaded it, students said. Teachers gave students the option to leave the room, said student Jenny Butterick, 16.
An investigation began after a parent notified Northwest High Principal Jim Chadwell about the incident. Chadwell could not be reached to comment Tuesday.
Northwest officials said that the district has interviewed teachers and students and that the inquiry should be finished within days. Any further action against the teachers will depend on the outcome, Sockwell said.
Northwest High will offer counseling to students who were upset by the video.
Sockwell said discussing the war in Iraq and terrorism is a legitimate lesson. But the teachers went too far, he said.
Butterick said most students opted to watch the video, which she called disturbing.
"You see stuff like that in the movies, but this was really hard because you know it's not special effects," she said. "That's really somebody's head that they're holding."
Erin Bennici, 18, said she watched the video in her health, science and technology class. She said she and her classmates were mature enough to handle the material. Students in the class often discussed the war and also looked at pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused, she said.
"It's disappointing to see this happen to our teacher," Bennici said. "She's a really good teacher, and she's always pushing us and motivating us."
Butterick's father, Charles Butterick, was surprised that the video was shown at school. He said that his daughter is mature enough to watch the video but that teachers should have asked for parental permission before showing it.
Linda Gunnels, whose son is a senior, said showing the video might be appropriate if students are seniors.
"It's part of what's going on, and it's a fact of life," she said. "It did happen."
Gene Hayward, a past president of the PTA council for the Northwest district, said he had no objections to showing an edited version in class.
"A version that doesn't show the complete beheading is appropriate to show in a classroom in the context of a quality lesson," said Hayward, who also teaches social studies at O.D. Wyatt High School in the Fort Worth district. "It should not be shown just out of curiosity."
Some students opposed showing the video.
"It's just too much. It's wrong," said Kate Suriyatip, 15, a freshman.
In California, at least three teachers have been placed on paid leave for showing the video at school, according to The Associated Press. One of the teachers is from Villa Park High School in Villa Park, Calif. The other incident involved two teachers in the Grossmont Union High School District near San Diego.
A similar debate over appropriate classroom content arose in Northwest after the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"If there was anything different, you didn't see the graphic nature that you see in this particular situation," Sockwell said.
ONLINE: www.northwest.k12.tx.us
This report includes material from The Associated Press.
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Terry Webster, (817) 685-3819
twebster@star-telegram.com