Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti (2007)

Overview : Scott Panetti was tried for the capital murder of his parents-in-law on September 8, 1992 in Gillespie County, Texas. He was subsequently sentenced to death on September 22, 1995. Panetti has an extensive history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Panetti was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily for mental illness fourteen times in six different hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992. Following his conviction, Panetti’s former wife, and daughter of the victims, Sonja Alvarado, filed a petition stating that Panetti never should have been tried for the crimes as he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings.

Release Date : January 1, 2007

Runtime : 27m

Genre : Documentary  

Companies : The Texas Defender Service, Off Center Media

Countries : United States of America

Keywords : death penalty, schizophrenia, texas, death row, murder, execution, mental illness, criminal justice system, american justice system