The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ordered a new lawyer and additional mental health expert funding for Scott Panetti, a schizophrenic Texas death row inmate who represented himself at trial wearing a cowboy costume and called Jesus Christ as a witness.
Panetti has a long history of schizophrenia and institutionalization and was charged with capital murder for killing his wife’s parents in front of his wife and his 3-year-old daughter. He insisted on representing himself in a bizarre 1995 trial in Kerrville that resulted in his conviction and death sentence.
