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Mental health leaders ask Barr to commute execution of Kansas killer with Alzheimer's

Kansas City Star - 7/11/2020

Jul. 11--Leaders of three national mental health organizations are asking the U.S. Attorney General William Barr to commute the execution of a federal death row inmate who confessed to killing and dismembering a Kansas City teenager.

According the letter, sent by leaders of Mental Health America, Treatment Advocacy Center, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 67-year-old Wesley Purkey suffers from schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, the letter said, his scheduled July 15 execution is unconstitutional.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to The Star's request for comment.

Purkey was sentenced to death in January 2004 after he was convicted in federal court of kidnapping 16-year-old Jennifer Long, whom he raped and killed in 1998. He was also convicted in Wyandotte County District Court of murdering 80-year-old Mary Ruth Bales, a Kansas City, Kansas, woman who was killed with a hammer.

In a lawsuit last year Purkey's attorneys said that, because of his disease, he does not understand why the government wants to execute him.

In the letter, the mental health leaders said that Purkey's competence has not been "adequately considered by the U.S. or by any court of law."

"Irrespective of one's position on the death penalty, it is well established that executing people whose developmental or medical status renders them less than fully able to comprehend the purpose of their punishment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment," the letter said.

Commuting the execution, the letter said, would be in line with the Trump Administrations policies of considering the needs of those with serious mental health conditions.

According to the letter, Purkey was abused as a child and was in and out of psychiatric hospitals from the time he was 14-years-old.

"Mr. Purkey's condition has worsened during his many years on death row," the letter said. "His thought patterns have become increasingly bizarre and he has filed numerous complaints against prison officials that reflect his irrational state of mind."

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