Fredericksburg Standard 

Texas: Report Says Inmate Competent

Mental health experts have evaluated former Fredericksburg resident Scott Panetti, 46, and found him competent to be executed, it was reported last week.

An article published in the May 8 issue of the San Antonio Express-News stated that the report was written by Austin psychiatrist Dr. Mary Anderson and Austin psychologist Dr. George Parker, who were appointed in February to evaluate the convicted murderer.

Word of the evaluation findings reportedly came from Panetti's attorney, Michael C. Gross of San Antonio, who said he had received the mental health report on Thursday.

However, confirmation of the evaluation by officials of the 216th Judicial District had not been received by the Standard-Radio Post as of press time.

Panetti had been on death row for the Sept. 8, 1992, double-murder of his parents-in-law - Joe Alvarado, 55, and his wife, Amanda Alvarado, 56 - in their Fredericksburg home at 807 West Austin Street.

A death sentence by lethal injection had been rendered on Sept. 22, 1995, at the end of a nine-day trial in 216th District Court at Kerrville where the case had been moved on a change of venue motion.

However, this past Feb. 4 - one day before Panetti's scheduled execution in Huntsville - a 60-day stay of execution was ordered in Austin by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks for the Western District of Texas.

That postponement came after two defense experts had spent more than 2 hours on death row with Panetti on Feb. 3 and offered the opinion that he was psychotic.

As a result, Panetti's attorney filed papers insisting that his client was incompetent to be put to death because he did not understand the reason for his execution.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions can be carried out only on those who understand why they are being put to death.

Subsequent to Sparks' execution postponement order, 216th District Court Judge Stephen B. Ables of Kerrville, who had presided over Panetti's 1995 trial, on Feb. 25 issued an order to have Panetti examined by mental health experts and determine if he was competent to be executed.

Reportedly, it is now up to Ables to either hold a hearing on the recent mental health report or to set another execution date for Panetti.

However, the Express-News article said that Panetti's attorney will likely challenge the mental health evaluation that described the inmate as "more evasive than deluded."

"There was only one drive-by interview, so to speak, for an hour," the newspaper article quoted Gross as having said.

Panetti's attorney also reportedly said the analysts overlooked other evidence of his client's dementia and suggested they should have done multiple interviews with the inmate.