Opinion ID: 1563959
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Imposition of the Death Penalty on a Mentally Ill Person

Text: Appellant argues that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on a mentally ill person. [30] Appellant cites Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002), for the proposition that the imposition of a death sentence on mentally retarded individuals violates evolving standards of decency embodied in the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause. Appellant argues that Atkins should be extended to individuals such as himself, who had been described at trial by all psychiatric expert witnesses as suffering from mental illnesses. However, as Appellant acknowledges, this Court has rejected a substantially similar argument in Commonwealth v. Faulkner, 528 Pa. 57, 595 A.2d 28, 38 (1991). In Faulkner, we stated: Appellant's last argument on this subject is that the death penalty statute violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution by permitting the jury to impose the death penalty when they have found, as a mitigating circumstance, that the defendant was mentally ill. Appellant argues that an automatic life sentence should be imposedand not the death penaltywhen the jury finds mental illness as a mitigating circumstance. In Commonwealth v. Fahy, 512 Pa. 298, 516 A.2d 689 (1986), this Court stated that a finding of substantial mental impairment under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(3) does not bar a death penalty imposed by the jury: Our legislature could have provided that a finding of substantial impairment precludes imposition of the death sentence[;] however, it did not do so. Instead, it determined that this factor was to be weighed by the jury along with all the other factors and that it is within the province of the jury to determine how much weight it should be accorded. Fahy, 512 Pa. at 317, 516 A.2d at 698-99. We believe this rationale is equally applicable when the jury finds as a mitigating factor that a defendant suffered from a degree of mental illness. Id. at 38. Appellant has failed to advance a compelling argument that would lead us to alter our holdings in Faulkner and Fahy. Appellant mentions that evolving standards of decency should prompt a reassessment of these decisions. However, Appellant does not engage in any analysis as to why this should be the case. Accordingly, we conclude that Appellant's argument is without merit.