Friday, February 04, 2000
Death penalty review sought
Catholic group raises mental issue
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As questions are raised about the mental competency of a second death row inmate who says he wants to die, the Catholic Conference of Ohio thinks it is time for Ohio to review its death penalty law.
“We're real concerned about the fact that in Ohio now, it appears the first two cases are persons with serious mental illness problems,” Jim Tobin, associate director of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, said Thursday.
Last month, Kevin Scudder, 36, filed a handwritten notice in federal court that he is waiving his rights for an appeal. He also wrote Attorney General Betty Montgomery, asking for her help in having his death sentence carried out as scheduled April 25.
Mr. Scudder was sentenced to death for the rape and fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Columbus girl in 1989.
Mr. Scudder's case bears some resemblance to the case of Wilford Lee Berry Jr., whose mental competency was questioned after he asked that his appeals be dropped.
Mr. Berry, executed by lethal injection Feb. 19, 1999, was the first person legally executed in Ohio in 36 years.
Mr. Tobin said Mr. Scudder's case raises fundamental questions about Ohio's system of capital punishment.
“Did our system really work well enough to take his mental illness into consideration? And if didn't in this case, are there other cases?” he said.
Mr. Tobin said his organization wants Ohio to consider a moratorium on the death penalty similar to the one declared by Illinois Gov. George Ryan on Monday.
Mary Anne Sharkey, spokeswoman for Gov. Bob Taft, said Ohio doesn't face the same situation as Illinois, where 13 inmates have been freed or taken off death row since 1987.
Adele Shank, Mr. Scudder's court-appointed lawyer, plays down similarities between her client and Mr. Berry.
Mr. Berry “had a long history of recent, court-ordered, thorough, detailed evaluations of his mental health with multiple experts, opportunities for hearings and cross-examinations,” Ms. Shank said. “None of that has happened in this case.”
Mr. Scudder was diagnosed with behavioral problems beginning at age 9, attempted suicide as a teen-ager and later was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, according to reports on file with U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley.
Mr. Scudder, jailed on assault charges at least three times as a teen-ager, was found innocent by reason of insanity in one of those cases, according to the reports.
Greg Meyers, chief counsel of the Ohio Public Defender's death penalty section, said most men on Ohio's death row are mentally ill and many have IQs low enough to be classified as mentally retarded.
“I'm not telling you everyone on death row has the same track record as Kevin Scudder, that far and that deep,” Mr. Meyers said. “It's no doubt safe to say most people who end up on death row have diagnosable mental defects and diseases.”
Mr. Scudder's execution date was set only because of administrative requirements of the court, Mr. Meyers said.
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