June 4 TEXAS: The 'system' isn't failing to rescue Texas' mentally ill. We are An administrator of a Central Texas nonprofit rural hospital asked me last week, "What is going on out there? Our ER, and even our general medicine floor, are suddenly full of patients with mental problems. Even the family practice docs are calling me saying their caseload is filling with people with serious mental illnesses that they don't feel competent treating." Ask any emergency room nurse or doctor if mental patients in the ER are a big problem, and you'll get an ear full. As the American-Statesman recounted in a recent article, a homeless man discovered the body of Samantha Harvey hanging from the limb of a cypress tree along the Town Lake hike-and-bike trail last August, her wrists freshly bandaged. Just four days before, she had deeply slashed herself, was treated at a for-profit hospital and released after a few hours. Samantha had bipolar disorder and had tried in vain to get medications and therapy when her candle burned out. In May, Kelsey Patterson, who had intractable paranoid schizophrenia, was executed after Gov. Rick Perry refused to grant executive clemency -- despite the state parole board's rare recommendation, on a 5-1 vote, to commute the sick man's sentence. Strapped to the gurney, Patterson ranted incoherently as the lethal drugs made their way through his veins. By all accounts, Patterson had no idea he was about to be put to death or why, thus clearly not meeting the legal requirement for execution: mental competence. By failing to show mercy, the governor sent a message: If you commit a crime and are sick enough, by God, this state will put you to death. Where does the blame lie for this mental health imbroglio -- where people die trying to get help; where wildly delusional inmates are executed; where people with gravely serious mental problems routinely show up in hospital emergency rooms, rural family practice doctors' offices and prison? The blame lies squarely with every one of us. We look the other way when we see a ranting homeless person. We make no effort to try to understand complex diseases of the brain. We think criminal defense lawyers are exaggerating or faking their clients' conditions. We think their families are at fault, or that they brought it on themselves. We think, maybe if these people would just pull themselves up by their bootstraps . . . We watched last legislative session as our elected representatives, acting as trustees of the public, cut $14.8 million in mental health funding, even though our state already ranked 46th nationally in per-capita mental health spending. They then went on to legislate that Medicaid would no longer cover therapy by professionals such as psychologists, therapists, counselors and social workers. (The bulk of people served by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation are eligible for Medicaid.) Those decisions took a tattered Texas-style mental health safety net and ripped it wide open. Forty-one community health centers across Texas struggle to care for our poor mentally ill. Each runs on a shoestring budget with caring, dedicated staffs who do their best to care for society's most vulnerable. Human errors can occur in community mental health centers, just as in the best hospitals. In either setting, these failures can be fatal. A deeply embedded stigma surrounding mental illness pervades our culture and directly affects our leaders' decisions about funding. Our lawmakers find little public sympathy for the mentally ill, and our governor shows no mercy, no disdain for injustice, no nobility of the soul. We all have the blood of Samantha Harvey and Kelsey Patterson on our hands. (source: Commentary, Tony Inglis -- Austin American Statesman (Inglis is a practicing neonatal intensive care nurse in Austin and a member of the Austin-Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center Board of Trustees) *********************** More Texans Behind Bars We're No. 2! For the 2nd year in a row, the Texas prison system ranks second in the nation in total prison population - lagging slightly behind the entire federal prison system - according to an annual report on prison and jail populations released May 27 by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. With 164,222 inmates, the Lone Star State lags behind the federal system by a mere 6,000 inmates. In all, from July 2002 through June 2003, the nation's total prison population increased by more than 40,000 inmates, the largest single-year increase in four years, the BJS reports. Among the report's more depressing statistics: The BJS reports that an estimated 12% of black males, 3.7% of Hispanic males, and 1.6% of white males in their 20s were in prison or jail. At the end of June 2003, there were nearly 2.1 million people behind bars nationwide; and at "midyear" (that is, Dec. 31, 2003) the BJS reports, "one out of every 140 U.S. residents was incarcerated." The report also notes that the number of privately owned prison facilities increased; such facilities now house a total of 94,361 inmates. Nearly 17,000 of those are in Texas, again second only to the federal government, which houses just over 21,000 inmates in private prisons. Also last week, the FBI released its preliminary crime statistics for 2003, in the annual Uniform Crime Report. According to the preliminary UCR, the nation experienced a 3.2% drop in violent crime (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) - led by an overall decrease in aggravated assault - but the total number of murders actually increased by 1.3%. Total property crime (burglary, larceny/theft, car theft) was down slightly (0.1%), although car thefts increased by 1.4%. In general, Austin crime stats ran counter to these trends. For 2003, Austin reported to the FBI an 8% increase in murders and a 6.6% increase in robberies, but a nearly 12% drop in the number of forcible rapes reported to police, and a nearly 12% decrease in auto theft. Austin police are expected to release their preliminary six-month statistics for 2004 within the month. (To view the FBI UCR, go to www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm. For the BJS prison report, see www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/pjim03.htm .) (source: Austin Chronicle) VIRGINIA----new execution date On September 10, 1998, Mark Bailey shot his 22-year-old wife and 2 1/2-year-old son as they were asleep in their beds. Bailey, a member of the U.S. Navy, reported to work shortly after he killed his family. His supervisor called police after Bailey told his supervisor that he had received a suspicious phone call and was concerned about the welfare of his wife. Upon arriving at Bailey's home, police discovered the bodies of the victims. Shortly thereafter Bailey was taken to police headquarters and questioned. After holding Bailey at the police station for seven hours, the police believed they had probable cause to arrest Bailey for the murder of his wife and child. During these 7 hours, Bailey admitted to killing his wife and child. At trial, the court refused to exclude the confession from being admitted into evidence despite the fact that Bailey claimed he did not know he was free to leave the police station at any time prior to his being arrested. An execution date of July 22, 2004 has been scheduled for Mark Bailey. He has exhausted both his state and federal appeals. Mark Bailey has been on death row since October 5, 1999. (source: VADP) CALIFORNIA/TEXAS: DNA Retesting Is Contentious in Bryant Case Attorneys for Kobe Bryant complained to the judge in a court filing Thursday that the laboratory chosen by prosecutors to retest vaginal swabs taken from Bryant's accuser at a rape examination refuses to allow a defense expert to be present. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are investigating the background of that expert, Elizabeth Johnson, who was fired from a Texas medical examiner's office in 1996 and whose methods have been questioned in a death-penalty case. The swabs have already been tested by Johnson, who is based in Ventura and has done all the independent testing of physical evidence for the defense. At least one of the tests indicates the swabs contain semen from a man other than Bryant, and the defense contends that the alleged victim had sex with another man in the hours between her June 30 encounter with Bryant and her rape examination the next day. Prosecutors received permission from Judge Terry Ruckriegle at a hearing May 27 to submit the swabs for retesting by June 1, to have the testing begin by June 8 and for tests to be completed by June 18. Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert acknowledged at the hearing that Johnson would be present at the retesting. However, the laboratory chosen by prosecutors, the Bode Technology Group, does not allow defense experts to observe DNA testing. "It is an absolute policy," Bode General Manager Kevin McElfresh said. "Never in our history have we allowed a defense expert to observe testing." Bode has conducted DNA testing since 1995. "If someone is in the lab, they can be a distraction, especially if they are looking over your shoulder," McElfresh said. "In fact, because this is a very sensitive test, any extraneous person could cause contamination." McElfresh said it is the policy of Bode to provide the defense with complete notes and documentation of all testing. However, Bryant attorney Hal Haddon said that not allowing Johnson to be present violates Ruckriegle's ruling. "The prosecution has known since May 10 that this court's order required it to choose a laboratory that would permit the defense expert to be present during the extraction and testing process," Haddon wrote. Said prosecution spokeswoman Krista Flannigan: "We have complied with the court's order as it was stated. If there are any little details that need to be worked out, we'll need to do that." Also under scrutiny are Johnson's qualifications. A civil court jury awarded her $315,000 in 1998, concluding she had been fired two years earlier in retaliation for disagreeing with the Harris County, Texas, district attorney in a capital murder case. Her analysis of blood samples did not implicate the prosecution's prime suspect. The reason the medical examiner's office gave for firing her was that she worked too many hours and demanded compensation time off in return. Johnson's connection to the investigation of another Texas murder is also of interest to prosecutors. Rodney Reed, now 35, was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of a 19-year-old Bastrop County woman. Reed's supporters charge that there is no record that Johnson ever tested DNA samples central to the case. Furthermore, the Austin Chronicle reported that shipping labels that the Texas Department of Public Safety says were used to transport evidence to Johnson's laboratory in Ventura do not match records kept by the shipping company. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Reed's appeal for a new trial in 2002, but questions continue to be raised, primarily by a volunteer consultant for Reed named David Fisher. Fisher said he contacted Hurlbert's office several days ago regarding Johnson and has since forwarded information to Eagle County investigator Gerry Sandberg. "Elizabeth Johnson is stained by the Bastrop case," Fisher said. "The Eagle County prosecutors are very disturbed by what they have learned." (source: Los Angeles Times) LOUISIANA: Legal victory not enough to free man Ryan Matthews, whose 1999 1st-degree murder conviction in the killing of a Bridge City grocer was vacated 2 months ago, will sit in jail at least another three weeks before learning whether a judge will set bond while he awaits a new trial. Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District on Thursday pushed back a bail hearing to June 24 or June 28 at the request of prosecutors, who want more time to have new evidence analyzed for DNA. Defense attorneys wanted Sullivan to set bail. "I was hoping Ryan would come home," his mother, Pauline Matthews, said when emerging from court Thursday. "I'm confident Ryan will be exonerated, because he is innocent." For five years, Matthews, 23, had been on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for the April 1997 murder of Bridge City grocery store owner Tommy Vanhoose, 43, who was shot four times during a robbery attempt at Comeaux's Grocery. Defense attorneys found last year that DNA gathered from a ski mask the killer wore points to Rondell Love, a 28-year-old Marrero man already in prison for slashing Chandra Conley's throat in Bridge City eight months after Vanhoose was murdered. Love, who Matthews' attorneys said bragged about killing Vanhoose, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Conley's death and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Louisiana Supreme Court last year ordered a new hearing for Matthews after learning that DNA evidence points to Love as the killer. Matthews was granted a new trial in April, but a trial date has not been set. He is being held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. Prosecutor David Wolff on Thursday asked Sullivan to delay the bond hearing so tests can be done on skin and an eyelash that have been found in the mask and on a shirt. Noted forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee, who is analyzing the cells and hair, notified the district attorney's office this week that untested evidence was found, Wolff said. Clive Stafford Smith of the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, which is representing Matthews, questioned how skin and hair in the mask were previously missed after four previous DNA analyses. He said prosecutors are "desperately" trying to keep Matthews in jail while he waits for a new trial. "There's no evidence that he's guilty," Smith said of Matthews, who his attorneys say is mentally retarded and was a minor when Vanhoose was murdered. The alleged getaway driver, Travis Hayes, 23, was convicted of 2nd-degree murder and fingered Matthews as the killer. (source: The Times Picayune)
