Federal judge Stays Florida Execution of Mentally ill Black Man - Argument set for Friday

From [HERE] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Saturday granted a stay of execution for Black death row inmate John Errol Ferguson in order to hear arguments on his habeus corpus petition on Friday. Ferguson was found guilty of killing eight people in 1977 and two in 1978. In September, Florida Governor Rick Scott  signed a death warrant for Ferguson, setting his execution date for last Tuesday. Scott temporarily stayed the execution [text, PDF] and appointed three psychiatrists to examine Ferguson. The psychiatrists issued a joint report declaring Ferguson to be sane for execution, and Scott subsequently lifted the stay. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed [opinion, PDF] a lower court ruling based on the psychiatrists' testimony that Ferguson was sane to be executed. The US Supreme Court denied certiorari [opinion, PDF] in Ferguson's appeal on Thursday, with Justice Breyer as the sole member who would have granted the stay.

As early as 1965, court records indicated that Ferguson was having “visual hallucinations.” One doctor said Ferguson “did not know right from wrong nor the nature and consequences of his acts.” A psychological diagnosis in 1975 warned that Ferguson “has a long-standing, severe illness which will most likely require long-term inpatient hospitalization” and that he was “dangerous and cannot be released under any circumstances.” Ferguson was released the following year and committed a series of murders. [MORE]

In June 2011 a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled [JURIST report] that Florida's procedure for imposing the death penalty was unconstitutional. Judge Jose Martinez held [opinion, PDF] that the procedure violates the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial [Cornell LII backgrounder]. An appeal of that case [text, PDF] has been filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website]. Florida had briefly banned the death penalty in December 2006 under Governor Jeb Bush, after the botched execution [JURIST reports] of Angel Diaz. However, in July 2007, Florida Governor Charlie Crist ended the state's temporary suspension on executions. The reinstatement came before the implementation of recommended changes [JURIST report], which had been suggested by a death penalty commission convened by Bush.