{PBJFlorida} John Fergison Case Actions

This following message is from the Executive Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)

 

As you may know by now, the time for the execution of John Ferguson is scheduled for 6:00PM ET on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

We are requesting that people contact Gov. Scott and ask that he convene the Board of Executive Clemency to commute the death sentence of John Ferguson to Life in Prison Without Parole; asking others to for sharing on email lists, social media and Tweets to that effect; and Letters to the editor. Favorable comments in response to news article and columns have also been requested. We are using FADPUpdate e-newsletters, social media, and group emails to coordinate actions and will be updating the FADP website.
Attached is the Transmittal Letter from Gov. Scott requesting and setting the date.
Below is a statement from the attorneys for John Ferguson.
Best Regards,
---Mark

 

Mark Elliott
Executive Director

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP
P.O. Box 82943
Tampa, FL  33682
727-215-9646

FADP is a coalition of individuals and organizations united to abolish the Death Penalty in Florida

 

 

 

 

Statement from Attorneys for John Ferguson in Re: Denial at Supreme Court of Florida

 

"We are disappointed that the Florida Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's ruling that John Ferguson is competent to be executed. He is not. As the trial court explicitly found, Mr. Ferguson's 'Prince of God' delusions are 'genuine' and the two expert doctors' testimony was 'credible and compelling as it relates to [his] documented history of paranoid schizophrenia.' We will promptly file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to stay Mr. Ferguson's execution and hear his case.

 

"Florida's laws on determining mental competency for execution squarely conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Panetti v. Quarterman (2007). And the Circuit Court's rushed, abbreviated hearing violated Mr. Ferguson's due process rights.

 

"Both the Florida Supreme Court and the Circuit Court in Bradford County failed to apply the correct constitutional standard under Panetti. They found that Mr. Ferguson was competent to be executed because he had a rudimentary factual awareness of his impending execution.  But so did the prisoner in Panetti, but the Supreme Court there held that that was not enough.  Just as in Panetti, Mr. Ferguson's gross delusions that he is the Prince of God and is invincible deprive him of any "rational understanding" of the reason for his execution and the effect of that execution.

 

"It is undisputed that Mr. Ferguson is a paranoid schizophrenic. Over nearly 50 years, multiple State doctors have diagnosed him as profoundly mentally ill and suffering from hallucinations and delusions. No justice will be served by executing a very sick, elderly man."

 

Christopher Handman

October 17, 2012

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