PENA MORTE: USA; GIUSTIZIATO IN TEXAS INFERMO DI MENTE

 HUNTSVILLE, 1 MAR - Un detenuto che sarebbe stato da tempo del tutto incapace di intendere e di volere per un grave infermita' mentale e' stato messo a morte poco dopo che la Suprema Corte federale aveva respinto un ultimo appello contro l' esecuzione della pena capitale presentato dai suoi difensori.

L' uomo, Monty Delk, di 35 anni, ha subito l' iniezione letale nel penitenziario di Huntsville, nel Texas, dopo che la Corte aveva negato la possibilita' di sottoporlo ad una perizia psichiatrica. Secondo i suoi difensori ed una organizzazione che si oppone alla pena di morte, Delk aveva perso da tempo le sue capacita' mentali e sosteneva di essere a seconda del momento il presidente del Kenya, un agente federale, un giudice distrettuale o il responsabile di un sottomarino nucleare durante la guerra civile. Delk era stato condannato a morte per aver ucciso a colpi di arma da fuoco un uomo, Gene 'Bubba' Allen, mentre stava provando un' autovettura che la vittima e la moglie volevano vendere. 

Texas Inmate Executed Despite Insanity Claim

Feb 28 

HUNTSVILLE, Texas  - Texas on Thursday put to death a man whom supporters said was insane after the nation's highest court refused to hear his 11th-hour appeal.

Monty Delk, 35, was executed after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his last-minute appeal that his execution should be stayed until his sanity can be determined.

 His attorneys and death penalty opponents say Delk has at various times said he thinks he is the president of Kenya, a federal agent, a district judge and man who became a hero while commanding a nuclear-powered submarine during the Civil War.

 Late on Wednesday, a federal judge in Beaumont granted Delk a stay of execution so he could hold a hearing to determine if Delk was insane. The Supreme Court bans executions of the insane but does not define the term.

 Texas appealed the stay to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which lifted it four hours before Delk's scheduled execution by lethal injection. The Supreme Court a few hours later declined to take the case.

 Delk was condemned to die for shooting Gene "Bubba" Allen in the head with a shotgun on Nov. 28, 1986, after taking a test drive in a Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 that Allen and his wife had advertised for sale. Delk, who had recently been evicted and had lost his Volkswagen in a card game, was arrested four days later in Winnfield, Louisiana.

 Delk let loose a stream of profanity after he was strapped to the gurney in the death chamber at the state prison in Huntsville, located 75 miles north of Houston. To restrain him, prison officials strapped his head to the gurney with a bandage, a step not normally taken.

 "I am the warden of this unit. Get your warden off this gurney and shut up," Delk said after the prison warden asked him if he had any last words. "This is the island of Barbados. I very politely told you what to do. Get your warden off this gurney. People will see you doing this."

 Seconds later, he gave his final gasp.

 Delk was the fifth person put to death this year by Texas, which leads the nation in executions. The state had executed 261 people since resuming the capital punishment in 1982, six years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision lifted a national death penalty ban.

Delk made no final meal request.