Q: Can the death penalty be imposed for someone with mental/ psychological illness?
A young friend of mine was sentanced to 25 years in prison at age 17 for stealing beer, the attorney assigned to his case did a poor job in defending him. Whilst in prison he was housed with a rival gang member, they got into a fight which resulted in the other inmates death. My friend is now charged with murder and the prosecution is determined to give him the death penalty, he has suffered with mental illness his whole life including being hospitalized, he is currently on medication for anxiety. His attorneys are not doing a good job and have not taken his mental /psychological state into consideration. Can the prosecution still give him the death penalty?
A: The prosecution can seek the death penalty. If he has been charged with agg. murder, and has appointed counsel, they are Rule 8 certified and will look into that issue. Contact them. This constant posting of death penalty issues is not going to get you the answers you want. There are only about 50 of us in the state qualified to deal with the extreme intricacies of death cases. If you are unhappy with his current attorneys, hire one of us. These questions are like asking a brain surgeon how they are going do an operation on a subdural hematoma. It is way too complex for this format.
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