CASE NO. SC79484
AILEEN WUORNOS
by Next Friend - Florida Support - Director Sissel Egeland
EMERGENCY PETITION
Petitioner, CAPITAL CASE
EXECUTION SCHEDULED
vs. FOR OCTOBER 9, 2002
AT 9:30 A.M.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
MICHAEL W. MOORE,
Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections,
and
Bradley D. Carter, Warden, Florida State Prison,
________________________________________________________________________
MOTION FOR A STAY OF EXECUTION
________________________________________________________________________
COMES NOW, FLORIDA SUPPORT by Director Sissel Egeland,
and files this Motion for Stay of Execution,
filed on October 4, 2002.
The situation described below ( Associated Press October 4, 2002 ) cannot be compared with what is professionally defined to be a psychiatric mental examination.
When a life is at stake, this becomes even worse.
"Gov. Jeb Bush ordered a mental exam, which took place last week.
Tanner, who watched the exam, said she was agitated with both Singhal and Bush for putting her through another mental evaluation. He said Wuornos was cognizant and lucid during the 30-minute interview.
"She is the most disturbed individual I have represented," said Nolas, who now practices law in Philadelphia.
"As she has gotten older and older, she has gotten worse and worse," said Nolas, who believes Wuornos is too mentally ill to comprehend what dropping her appeals and seeking death will mean.
"She is a like a kid," Nolas said, adding that she pouts and stomps around and doesn't want to deal with difficult situations.
Nolas, who refers to Wuornos as "Lee," said he believes Mallory raped Wuornos and that pushed her over the edge. Information on Mallory's prior history of sexual assault was withheld from defense attorneys, he said
"Before that, she had no history of physical violence," Nolas said.
When she was convicted on Jan. 27, 1992, she shouted at the jury, "I'm innocent. I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!"
Two days later the jury recommended the death penalty, and the judge sentenced her the next day to die.
This observation from defense lawyer Billy Nolas was formed through years of personal knowledge and experience with Aileen."Based upon the totality of my contacts with Ms. Wuornos, I have grave doubts about her mental condition and specifically whether she is competent to be executed."
And more :
"I am writing to simply ask that Ms. Wuornos be evaluated by a team of Court-ordered psychologists prior to any further proceedings in her cases."
And more to focus from Singhal`s letter :
"In Court and at the jail, she exhibits bizarre behavior, laughing and crying at inappropriate times and obsessing on points having no importance to her cases. The specific claims she raises in her twenty-three page supplemental filing to Judge Backrnan on July 12,2002
if untrue, appear to be evidence of delusional behaviour"
And more:
"I am not an expert in psychology or psychiatry, but I write this letter because I amfirmly convinced of Ms. Wuomos’ mental illness."
The real questions in Aileens accusations about the prison conditions are
if they are DELUSIONAL or TRUE
In the lawsuit he's handling for Wuornos, she accuses prison guards of trying to harass her "to death" and drive her to suicide. In her 25-page handwritten court filing, Wuornos has accused the prison staff of tainting her food, spitting on it and serving her potatoes cooked in dirt.
The state Department of Corrections has rejected her allegations.
Wuornos, who calls herself a model prisoner, complained about eight sergeants and officers assigned to the women's death row unit at the Broward Correctional Institution after she dropped her death appeals.
She accused the prison staff of waging psychological and physical warfare against her and wants the eight officers to be transferred "until my X," her shorthand for execution. She also wants the old staff returned.
A person with a borderline psychosis is not continuously openly psychotic, but may be psychotic in, for her, special traumatic situations.
"I did not commit the crime for which I will die. It does not matter who believes me and who won't believe me," said the statement.
The statement was written by Sanchez-Velasco during the night and handed to a Roman Catholic priest who was among his final death row visitors, said the lawyer, Craig DeThomasis of Gainesville.
"I don't know there is a case to be made that that there was an innocent man who is executed," the attorney said.
The definition of "understanding" by this three psychiatrist team is softly said, questionable.
This mental exam or mental snapshot is done shortly before Aileens 30 minutes SANE diagnosis is set.
We also question why this " expert" team, carefully picked only by the Governor`s favorites and to the public still unoffical by which criteria these individual psychiatrists were chosen, has not included the new information from Aileen Wuornos defense lawyers - here defined as newly discovered evidences of her insanity.
And why was there never an exchange of information between this team of "experts" and the informants of insanity observations both in the Wuornos and Sanchez-Velascos cases - informants that had important personal knowledge and closeness to the defendants over a time period, which extended the 30 minutes snapshot.
Only then would any psychiatrist be able to start on the work to find the defendants sanity or insanity and to conclude professionally over time on the legal question of competency.
The ethical guidelines of the AMA in capital cases leaves no doubt that the ethical standards are seriously violated in Florida in the case of Aileen Wuornos.
The Declaration of ethical standards for psychiatric practice of the World Medical Association approved in 1996 and amended in 2002 clearly states the guidelines to be used for psychiatrists, including the Americans and including the Floridians. This defines the question of professional psychiatric independency and the issues of conflict of interest.
"The psychiatrist, among whose patients are some who are severely incapacitated and incompetent to reach an informal decision, should be particularly careful of actions that could lead to the death of those who cannot protect themselves because of their disability."
The real question is who in Florida today is protecting Aileen Wuornos against her illness?
The responsibility for this life is now in the hands of each of the Florida justices, even after the Governor has given his own conclusion.
Florida Supreme Court has a responsibility of its own to evaluate the methods and situations used to define competency in a life or death case and in especially in a warrant situation
Death is different.
Dixon v. State, 283 So.2d 1 (Fla. 1973).
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true copy of the foregoing motion has been
furnished by facsimile
transmission and U.S. Mail, first class postage prepaid, to all counsel of
record this date ....
________________________
Sissel Egeland
PO Box 63
Glandorf, Ohio 45848
FAX 813-3544-809
Aileen Wuornos
Florida State Prison
7819 N.W. 228th
Street
Raiford, Florida 32026
Bradley D. Carter
Florida State
Prison
7819 N.W. 228th
Street
Raiford, Florida 32026
The Honorable R. Michael Hutcheson
Circuit Court Judge
251 North Ridgewood Avenue
Room 204
Daytona Beach, Florida 32114
Chrief judge Robert K. Rouse
Sean Daly
Assistant State Attorney
Office of the State Attorney
The Justice Center
251 North Ridgewood Avenue
Daytona Beach, Fla. 32114- 7505
Scott A. Browne
Assistant Attorney General
Office of the Attorney
General
Westwood Center, Suite 700
2002 North Lois Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33607
Defense Lawyer Raag Singhal, Esquire
Law Offices of Kapla Singhal, P.A.
1323 S.E. 4WAvenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
Defense Lawyer Billy Nolas,
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
United Nation - WHO
Director Gro Harlem Brundtland
The
Director-General's Office
WHO, Geneva
Fax: (+41 22) 791 4858