''Perry v. Louisiana'', 498 U.S. 38 (1990), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case over the legality of forcibly medicating a death row inmate with a

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

, to render him competent to be executed.

Background

Michael Owen Perry (born December 3, 1954) murdered five people, including his parents and infant nephew, at and around his parents’ home in

Lake Arthur, Louisiana Lake Arthur is a town in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,738 at the 2010 census, down from 3,007 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jennings Micropolitan Statistical Area. The current mayor is Sherry ...

. Following the murders, he fled the state, leaving behind a list of five other intended targets, including

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Sandra Day O'Connor and musician

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

. He was ultimately arrested at a hotel in Washington D.C., apparently on his way to kill O'Connor. A jury convicted him of the five murders and sentenced him to the death penalty. After his sentencing, the trial court found that his competence to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

depended on his taking

psychiatric medication A psychiatric or psychotropic medication is a psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. Thus, these medications are used to treat mental illnesses. These medications are typically made of ...

and ordered that he be forcibly medicated to be sure he remained competent. ''

Ford v. Wainwright ''Ford v. Wainwright'', 477 U.S. 399 (1986), was a Lists of United States Supreme Court cases, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the common law rule that the insane cannot be Capital punishment in the ...

'' (1986) had already established that an insane inmate could not be executed.

Opinion of the Court

In a ''

per curiam In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though not ...

'' decision, the Court vacated the lower court's ruling without issuing an opinion. The case was remanded to the Louisiana Supreme Court for further deliberation given '' Washington v. Harper'' (1990), also a case involving involuntary medication, which had been decided after the District Court's ruling..

Aftermath

Upon remand, the lower court ruled against the forcible medication of individuals to maintain their competency for execution. This decision was based on the distinction that, unlike the holding in ''Harper v. Washington'' concerning involuntary medication for treatment issues, forcing medication for execution was not medical treatment (being "antithetical to the basic principles of the healing arts") but punishment. In addition, the lower court found two state laws on which to base its holding. First, it found that forcibly medicating a person for execution was cruel and unusual punishment under Louisiana state law because "it fails to measurably contribute to the social goals of capital punishment" by adding to the individual's punishment "beyond that required for the mere extinguishment of life," and could be "administered erroneously, arbitrarily or capriciously." It also held that forcible medication in this situation violated the

right to privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...

guaranteed by the Louisiana State Constitution because the inhumanity of the situation rendered the state's interest in executing a person under these conditions less compelling.

Significance

Per ''

'', a

psychotic Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...

inmate who does not have an understanding of what is about to occur is not competent to be executed and, therefore, cannot be executed. The complex issues of forcibly medicating an individual to make him competent for execution posed in ''Perry v. Louisiana'' illustrates the conflict between the judicial interests in imposing

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for certain

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

s and the medical physician's Hippocratic Oath not to give poison. Medical ethics are also primarily guided by the Hippocratic aphorism "first do no harm" principle.

Footnotes

External links

* *{{caselaw source , case=''Perry v. Louisiana'', {{Ussc, 498, 38, 1990, el=no , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/112504/perry-v-louisiana/ , findlaw=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/498/38.html , justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/498/38/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep498/usrep498038/usrep498038.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1990/89-5120
Whose Right is It Anyway?: Rethinking Competency to Stand Trial in Light of the Synthetically Sane Insanity Defendant
United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States substantive due process case law Mental health case law in the United States 1990 in United States case law

Background

Opinion of the Court

Aftermath

Significance

See also

Footnotes

External links