Confessed Killer Scott Panetti Gets Stay Of Execution, Drawing Cheers And Outrage

Confessed killer Scott Panetti has been granted a stay of execution in Texas after a judge decided more mental evaluations were necessary for the diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.

The Inquisitr first brought you this story last week as Panetti was running out of time. In that previous post, it was revealed that Panetti murdered his in-laws, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in 1992.

He was sentenced to die in 1995 after a disastrous defense in which he represented himself, dressed as a cowboy, believing that only the insane could pull off an insanity defense.

The crime, described in vivid detail by the Christian Science Monitor, noted that Panetti, “heavily armed, head shaved and wearing camouflage — shot and killed his in-laws at their Texas Hill Country home, showering his estranged wife and 3-year-old daughter in blood.”

Still, the crime’s horrific nature, Panetti’s defense claimed, did not tell the whole story.

Scott Panetti, prior to the murders, had been placed in a hospital close to a dozen times in the years leading up to the crime. An earlier Supreme Court review of the case (in 2007) tweaked criteria for executing the severely mentally disturbed by requiring inmates to know that they are being punished, and to have a “rational understanding” of said punishment.

The defense wanted more time for mental evaluation for Panetti, while the prosecutors claimed he had plenty of time for that in the years leading up to his planned execution.

The defense won, and now anti-death penalty supporters are cheering while the victims’ families are outraged.

First, Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald wrote this simultaneously relieved and critical op-ed, stating that it was “cruel and unusual” to execute any man, especially one with the severe disorder that Panetti has.

Pitts does think that Panetti deserves punishment, but not death. The family members, on the other hand, see the court’s decision to stay the man’s execution as a slight of justice and a continuance of their agony that they have been living with since 1992.

In the Daily Mail, they expressed this outrage.

Minnie Ybarbo, the daughter of the murder victims, said she and her son, Junior Herrera, were hoping for “some kind of closure,” and claim the murderer is “not as crazy as people believe.”

Of getting the call that Scott Panetti would not be executed, the family had this to say.

“It was very devastating because I guess I was looking forward to just having some type of closure,” Ybarbo said.

“It (execution) should have happened long ago,” said Herrera. “Years ago, and to me he’s just finding a way to use the system to his advantage.”

The family is still holding out hope that Scott Panetti will be executed, though they have no guess as to when that will be.

Do you side with the family or the anti-death penalty advocates on this?