NCADP - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Percy Walton, Dec. 8, 2006, VA

Do Not Execute Percy Walton!

The state of Virginia is scheduled to execute Percy Walton, a black man, Dec. 8, 2006 for three murders committed in Danville in 1996. Walton allegedly shot Jessie and Elizabeth Kendrick and Archie Moore during the course of a robbery spree. He pled guilty to the murders and received a death sentence in 1997.

Throughout his appeals, Walton’s attorneys have argued that he was not competent to plead guilty to the murders, and that his pleas were not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. While awaiting trial, Walton expressed his belief that he could not be seen if he had his eyes closed. He also told his relatives he was Jesus Christ and that he was a millionaire. He told others he looked forward to his execution because then he would be able to return to life immediately and resurrect his dead family members.

.In 1999, a psychiatrist, a neuropsychologist and a neurologist assessed Walton's mental health for his appeals and found that he suffers from severe chronic schizophrenia. Today Walton is a shell of a human being, severely mentally ill and cognitively impaired and completely unaware that he faces imminent execution..

As a child, Walton was neat, polite, and popular, but began struggling with his emotions and mental stability in his mid-teens. He stopped bathing, attending school, and playing sports, and began talking to himself. These were signs of his mental illness, which the state continues to ignore.

In Virginia, the governor has full authority to grant clemency in death penalty cases; however, the state is second only to Texas in executions since 1976, and few clemency petitions have proven successful. This case is unique, though, in that there is no question whatsoever that Walton is profoundly mentally ill and is unaware of his impending execution or why he is being executed.

Please write to Gov. Tim Kaine on behalf of Percy Walton!

November 22, 2009

Subject:

I wish to appeal to you on behalf of Percy Walton, who is due to be executed on Dec. 8, 2006. My sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of Jessie and Elizabeth Kendrick and Archie Moore. While I agree this was a very tragic event that cannot go unpunished, the death penalty—which is employed disproportionately against the poor and people of color—is not the right punishment for Walton. In 1999, a psychiatrist, a neuropsychologist and a neurologist assessed Walton's mental health for his appeals and found that he suffers from severe chronic schizophrenia. His appeals have proven unsuccessful to this point, and after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed his appeal on Feb. 27, the state set his execution date. Questions of mental competency surround Walton’s guilty plea and death sentence. Executing Walton would violate the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and constitute the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. Please find it in your heart to spare the life of this human being. Thank you for your time and consideration in this important and urgent matter.
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