WASHINGTON, 5 FEB - Ha ottenuto in extremis un rinvio dell'esecuzione un malato di mente nel Texas che durante il processo si era difeso da solo, senza l'aiuto di un avvocato, presentandosi in tribunale in costume da cowboy.

L'esecuzione di Scott Panetti, 45 anni, condannato per aver ucciso i suoceri nel 1992, era in programma per oggi (giovedi').

Il giudice federale Sam Sparks ha concesso in serata una sospensione di 60 giorni, rinviando il caso al tribunale statale che aveva condannato a morte Panetti per un riesame della capacita' dell'imputato di affrontare il processo, secondo quanto ha reso noto Steve Hall, rappresentante di 'StandDown Texas', un gruppo che si batte per una moratoria delle esecuzioni nella 'capitale' della pena di morte.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

TEXAS: Wisconsin man on Texas death row gets 60-day reprieve----A judge will consider whether Poynette native with mental illness history is competent to be execute

A Wisconsin man with a history of mental illness who was scheduled to be executed Thursday in Texas was granted a 60-day stay of execution on Wednesday while a judge considers whether he is competent enough to be put to death.

The stunning development came a day after lawyers and mental health advocates held a news conference in Austin, Texas, to decry the scheduled execution of Scott Panetti, 45, who was convicted in 1995 of murdering his estranged wife's parents.

His lawyer argues that Panetti, a Poynette, Wis., native who has been diagnosed for the past 23 years with schizophrenia, cannot appreciate the reason he is being executed.

"He thinks he's being put to death for preaching the Gospel," said Michael Gross, who was appointed by the court to handle Panetti's appeals six years ago.

The matter now goes back to the judge who heard the case in 1995 to decide whether Panetti is competent to be executed. That ruling is subject to federal appeal.

Panetti was to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today.

His family and supporters are nervous but relieved.

"I'm trying not to let myself get into a celebration mode," said Panetti's mother, Yvonne Panetti of Sheldon, Wis. She and her husband, Jack, have been in Texas for the past several weeks preparing for their son's execution and trying to get a judge to hear his case.

"We're afraid they are going to pump him up with medication and execute him," said Andrea Keilen, a lawyer for the Texas Defender Service, a non-profit organization that aids poor people on death row.

Groups have taken interest

In the past several weeks, since Panetti's execution date was set, several special-interest groups, including Amnesty International and the National Mental Health Association, have been petitioning the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Panetti's sentence to life. The board has denied all requests.

Panetti's case was featured in a profile in the Journal Sentinel in November 1999, but the case had drawn little other attention until this week. On Wednesday, the Washington Post editorialized against the execution, and The New York Times carried an article on the case, as did the Philadelphia Inquirer and several other publications.

Panetti was convicted in 1995 of killing Jose and Amanda Alvarado in Fredericksburg, Texas, three years earlier. Panetti, who had been hospitalized for mental illness more than a dozen times in the 11 years before the killings, was allowed to represent himself in the murder trial. He did so wearing a purple cowboy suit and issuing subpoenas to Jesus Christ and John F. Kennedy.

Panetti, a football all-star at Poynette High School in 1975, was discharged from the Navy after his schizophrenia began to manifest itself. He was treated several times in the 1980s at the Tomah Veterans Administration Hospital in Tomah, Wis.

Law enforcement officials in Fredericksburg, who prosecuted Panetti, declined to comment Wednesday. But Gillespie County Sheriff Milton Jung told the Associated Press that they had served Panetti with an order barring him from having any contact with his wife or her family.

"He knew where he was and what he had done," Jung said. "He wanted people to think he was nuts."

The stay was granted by a federal judge after Panetti's lawyer filed two affidavits, one from a forensic psychologist who interviewed Panetti on Monday and one from a law school professor who said that Panetti could not understand why he was scheduled to die.

While the immediate issue is whether Panetti is competent for execution, lawyers now associated with the case say they are trying to get the federal court to reconsider whether it was legal to allow Panetti to represent himself at the trial while he was unmedicated. Three doctors who testified at the trial later filed affidavits saying Panetti was clearly delusional. 2 of the jurors said after the trial that they were intimidated by Panetti and voted to recommend the death penalty because they were frightened of him.

Case is a 1st for Texas

The question of whether it is constitutional to execute an incompetent person has not come up before the Texas courts, said Keilen, of the Texas Defender Service. But 2 cases in other states have dealt with the matter, with various outcomes. Last year, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted a man's death sentence to life in prison after finding him incompetent. In Arkansas, a man with schizophrenia was put to death in January, despite his lawyers' pleas that the man could not understand the reason for his execution.

Panetti's sister, Victoria, a makeup artist in Los Angles, has launched a Web site to solicit signatures on a petition to spare her brother. In 4 weeks, more than 1,700 people have signed the petition.

Yvonne Panetti saw her son on Wednesday, an hour or so before word of the stay came down.

"He was very calm, all smiles," she said.