Sanity of Condemned Va. Inmate Debated

June 4, 2006, 12:38PM
Sanity of Condemned Va. Inmate Debated

By KRISTEN GELINEAU Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. — Percy Walton's attorneys describe their client as a man who has lost all touch with reality: He keeps no personal effects in his death row cell, save for a mountain of salt and pepper packets.

He rarely speaks, although occasionally bursts into random bouts of laughter. And when asked what he believes will happen to him if he is executed, Walton responds that he'd go to Burger King, the attorneys say.

Whether Walton _ who is scheduled to die by injection Thursday _ is indeed insane and mentally retarded has been debated for nearly a decade. Some believe he is faking his behavior to get off death row. Others argue he simply doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity or mental retardation.

The question of his sanity is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has just days to decide whether to take the case and determine if Walton should be executed for the 1996 slayings of three neighbors in Danville.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3925797.html

upon the the "ALTAR OF RIGHTEOUSNOUS" . Death penalty has never worked as a deterrent. Killing defeneseless people serves only the politicians.