https://youtu.be/tT0puNx_cvk
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/planned-execution-william-morva-stirs-mental-illness-debate-n779341
It's not clear if Morva is aware of the remarkable effort to win him clemency, which includes a highly produced website with a documentary-style video chronicling his psychological decline and letters from international diplomats.
"He has not accepted a visit from me or spoken to me in many years," said Davison, a senior attorney at the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center. "He believes I am part of the conspiracy trying to kill him."
The mentally ill are not exempt from the death penalty unless they are found to be so insane they can't comprehend the punishment, although a handful of states are weighing legislation to change that.
The jury that condemned Morva to die was told by experts that he had a personality disorder. His attorneys argue he actually suffered from a more serious delusional disorder — he was diagnosed during his appeals process — and that jurors might have sentenced him to life if they believed his illness made him kill.
An appeals court that rejected Morva's request for a stay of execution noted that a lower court found no evidence of a "true mental illness," but family and friends say the Blacksburg, Virginia, man was seriously ill.
They describe behavior like gorging on raw meat or subsisting on a diet of nuts, berries and pine cones and claiming he had been chosen to save indigenous people. Symptoms including paranoia and detachment from reality allegedly worsened after he was jailed for more than a year on attempted theft charges.
For serial killers and pedophiles I do
If you take an innocent life intentionally. Then you deserve for your life taken as well. Not to mention death penalty for serious crimes, if we stopped using lethal injection, would free up tons of prison space and save tax payers millions.
Not fair killing someone who can't defend himself, I support life sentence of service, something like slavery instead of death.
>>132533833
The question isn't whether or not the death penalty is appropriate for people that deserve it, it is whether or not it is appropriate for the innocent that accidentally end up on death row.
>>132533833
take him out to pasture
If you get blackout drunk, murder a bunch of people, and then wake up the following morning without any recollection of the events prior, should you be spared punishment because you can't comprehend the crime that you've committed?
No.