-Caveat Lector- http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/241761_singleton_19te.html Tuesday December 19, 2000 Appeal fights forced use of medication to allow execution By Suzi Parker / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News LITTLE ROCK, Ark. � For years, the Arkansas prison system sporadically force-fed anti-psychotic drugs to death-row inmate Charles Singleton. Without the medication, Mr. Singleton would eventually lapse into psychosis. When that happens, he becomes incompetent and cannot be executed. His lawyer, Jeff Rosenzweig, and the American Civil Liberties Union argue in an appeal of his death sentence that the state cannot medicate a person so he will be sane for execution. The appeal is before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this month, a federal judge concluded that Mr. Singleton was incompetent before the state began force-feeding him the drugs. But, U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele said he was unable to determine when Mr. Singleton, who now is not taking the drugs, would relapse into psychosis or whether he would again become incompetent for execution. "It's crazy to make someone sane just so you can kill them," said Rita Skylar, executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas. "It makes no sense, and that's what I have been arguing about for years." The prison system has stopped forcing Mr. Singleton to take anti-psychotic drugs. Mr. Rosenzweig has argued that only state-ordered medicine makes Mr. Singleton eligible to die for the 1979 slaying of Hamburg, Ark., grocer Mary Lou York, who identified him as her attacker before she died. He argues that Mr. Singleton would be insane � and safe from execution � if the state no longer forced him to take drugs for schizophrenia. Taking the drugs allows him to understand why he is to be put to death. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that inmates must understand their sentences in order to be executed. Mr. Rosenzweig argues that artificially making Mr. Singleton sane and then killing him violates Mr. Singleton's right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment. Suzi Parker is a free-lance writer based in Little Rock. (c) 2000 The Dallas Morning News =========================== <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
