USA - Texas. After more than 15 years on Texas' Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Tom Price calls for abolition.

After more than 15 years on Texas' Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Tom Price calls for abolition. Price denounced the death penalty, saying that Texas' 2005 life without parole law makes it unnecessary and that the possibility of executing a wrongfully convicted person is an "irrational risk" that should not be tolerated by the criminal justice system." Judge Price dissented from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' denial of relief for Scott Panetti: "Having spent the last forty years as a judge for the State of Texas, of which the last eighteen years have been as a judge on this Court, I have given a substantial amount of consideration to the propriety of the death penalty as a form of punishment for those who commit capital murder, and I now believe that it should be abolished. I, therefore, respectfully dissent from the Court's order denying the motion for stay of execution and dismissing the subsequent application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Scott Louis Panetti, applicant. I would grant applicant's motion for a stay of execution and would hold that his severe mental illness renders him categorically ineligible for the death penalty under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution." "I now conclude that the death penalty as a form of punishment should be abolished because the execution of individuals does not appear to measurably advance the retribution and deterrence purpose served by the death penalty; the life without parole option adequately protects society at large in the same way as the death penalty option; and the risk of executing an innocent person for a capital murder is unreasonably high, particularly in light of procedural-default laws and the prevalence of ineffective trial and initial habeas counsel." In his statement, Price cited a 2012 University of Michigan-Northwestern University law school study that ranked Texas third nationwide in wrongful convictions during the past 24 years. He also cited a National Registry of Exonerations report that determined 2013 was a record-breaking year for exonerations in the United States; Texas topped the list. Panetti, 56, White, is to die Dec. 3. He was condemned for the 1992 murders of his mother- and father-in-law Joe and Amanda Alvarado. At age 20, he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. While representing himself at his 1st trial, he attempted to subpoena Jesus Christ and President John F. Kennedy. His lawyers contend that his mental condition has worsened on death row. Panetti was first diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 20 at the Brook Army Medical Center, shortly after being honorably discharged from the Navy in 1978. Over the next 14 years leading up to the crime, Panetti was hospitalized thirteen times, both voluntarily and involuntarily, and his shizophrenia and paranoid schizophrenia were diagnosed again and again. The Social Secuirty Administration deemed that Panetti’s schizophrenia was so debilitating, it entitled him to government benefits in 1986. Price's statement came in a dissent to the court's 6-3 vote not to consider a new appeal on behalf of Panetti that argues his mental condition "renders him categorically ineligible for the death penalty under the Eighth and 14th Amendments, because imposition of the death penalty on offenders with severe mental illness offends contemporary standards of decency." Judges Elsa Alcala and Cheryl Johnson issued a separate dissenting opinion, saying they would stay Panetti's execution to allow for an examination of his claim that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution of seriously mentally ill individuals. Price, 61, a former Dallas County state district judge, has served on the high appeals court since 1996. His term ends this year and he has said he will not seek re-election.