Court Opinion

ID: 9505256
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:02:58.050227+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:22.102558
License: Public Domain

RUCKER, J.,
concurring.
I concur with the majority's decision to deny Matheney's request to file a successive petition for post-conviction relief, I continue to believe that a sentence of death is inappropriate for a person suffering a severe mental illness. See Corcoran v. State, 774 N.E.2d 495, 502-03 (Ind.2002) (Rucker, J., dissenting) (expressing the view that a death sentence for a seriously mentally ill person "violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment provision of the Indiana Constitution."). Here however, Matheney presents nothing to this court *459even remotely demonstrating that he is presently mentally ill or that he is "unaware of the punishment [he is] about to suffer and why [he is] to suffer it." See Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 422, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986) (Powell, J., concurring). Rather, although making oblique references to his present mental state, Matheney premises his claim for relief on the ground that he was mentally ill at the time of the murder. This claim has been decided against Matheney in earlier appeals. I therefore agree that Matheney has failed to establish a reasonable possibility that he is entitled to post-conviction relief.