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Ramon Martinez-Villareal is a Mexican citizen who suffers from psychosis, dementia and has mental retardation. He was sentenced to death as an accomplice to felony murder; his incompetence to be executed is now the only claim being considered by the courts. Dr. George J. O'Connor, his treating psychiatrist at the Arizona Department of Corrections describes Mr. Martinez Villareal as "a seriously ill man, who functions at best with the mental capacity of a small child." DOC psychiatrists have medicated Mr. Martinez-Villareal for schizophrenia since 1986. Dr. O'Connor recently signed a declaration describing Mr. Martinez-Villareal's impairments: Mr. Martinez-Villareal could not accurately report his age (he said that he was thirty years old, obviously much younger than his actual age as judged by his official records). He did not know where he was born, and complained of constant voices in his head that prevented him from sleeping. I noted "severe anxiety and inability to know where he is or why he is here." I also noted that "his thoughts were simple and childlike." Mr. Martinez-Villareal is a very sick man. He is in nearly constant physical pain from complications of his diabetes, including gastro-intestinal pain, diabetic retinopathy (impaired vision) and diabetic neuropathy, which causes extreme pain in his lower extremities. He has had various infections, including tuberculosis. Nerve damage has left him deaf in one ear. He is less than five feet tall, and behaves in a bizarre manner, making him a target of abuse by other inmates. He is "bulldogged" by other inmates for his medication and his property. His single coping device for all these problems is a temper tantrum eventually leading to self mutilation. The jury that convicted Mr. Martinez-Villareal and the judge who sentenced him to die knew nothing of his mentaldisabilities. William Rothstein, the court-appointed lawyer who defended Mr. Martinez-Villareal, honorably admitted the mistakes that he made as a result of being thrust into a death penalty case before he had the necessary knowledge and experience. At a federal court hearing, Mr. Rothstein testified "I messed up. I mean I did, you know, and I feel bad about it. I have for all these years. Because if I had . . . done more at the sentencing, . . . [the judge] wouldn't have given him the death penalty." Martinez-Villareal v. Lewis, No. CIV-86-296 TUC-RMB (D. Ariz. May 16, 1994) slip op. at 24-25, 29. In 1994, the late U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bilby found, after an evidentiary hearing, that Mr. Martinez-Villareal's trial lawyer was constitutionally ineffective when he failed to investigate and present evidence of Mr. Martinez?Villareal's obvious mental deficiencies in mitigation of punishment. DCR86 #136 at 20?30. Judge Bilby issued the writ of habeas corpus, but that decision was overturned on a procedural technicality that arose when Mr. Martinez-Villareal's trial lawyer failed to argue at the appropriate time that his own performance was incompetent. At the conclusion of that appeal, the only issue remaining before the courts is whether Mr. Martinez-Villareal's mental impairments are so severe that he cannot understand that his impending execution is the result of a conviction for murder. Arizona Superior Court Judge Boyd T. Johnson conducted a competency hearing, and decided that although the evidence of Mr. Martinez-Villareal's mental retardation, brain damage and mental illness was credible, he is nevertheless mentally fit to be executed under Arizona law. State v. Martinez-Villareal, No. 97-22291 (Pinal County Super. Ct. May 9, 1997). The Arizona Supreme Court denied review of that decision on May 16, 1997, with two of the five justices writing separately expressing "serious doubts about the propriety of the death sentence" in light of the fact that "the evidence makes it clear that [Martinez?Villareal] is mildly retarded and seriously mentally ill," and urging that Mr. Martinez-Villareal's sentence be reduced by the parole board to life. In a related law suite, Mr. Martinez-Villareal's lawyers argued the Arizona law should forbid the execution of persons with mental retardation. Although Superior Court Judge Wallace Hoggat concluded that he was bound by law to reject that argument, he declared, "If this case could be legally decided on the issue of what this Court would like to see, the Court would without hesitation declare that Martinez-Villareal should not be executed." State v. Martinez-Villareal, No. CR-4628-A; 4641-A; 4653-A (Minute Entry, May 15, 1998). The case then returned to Judge Bilby's court. Although he found that recent restrictions on the federal writ of habeas corpus deprived him of jurisdiction over the case, he expressed "serious concerns . . . as to whether Petitioner is presently capable of understanding 1) that he is to be punished by execution, and 2) why he is being punished[,]" and noted that "it had the opportunity to observe the Petitioner in 1994" and "that its observations of Petitioner in 1994 called into serious doubt [Martinez?Villareal's] competence." The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court eventually ruled that Judge Bilby did indeed have jurisdiction, and remanded the case to the district court. Martinez-Villareal v. Stewart, 118 F.3d 628, 629, 634-35 (9th Cir. 1997), aff'd Stewart v. Martinez?Villareal, 523 U.S. 637 (1998). Upon Judge Bilby's death, the case was reassigned to Judge William Fremming Neilson, who ordered that Mr. Martinez-Villareal be thoroughly tested for mental retardation and dementia, which the Arizona Superior Court had refused to allow. Dr. Denis Keyes, a nationally recognized expert on mental retardation, evaluated Ramon in 1998, and confirmed that he has mental retardation to a degree which renders him mentally incompetent. On standardized testing, Ramon's IQ is 50, far below level of intellectual functioning used to identify persons with mental retardation. Dr. Keyes also noted that Ramon's adaptive behavior skills, i.e. his ability to learn and solve problems, are extremely deficient. When frustrated, Ramon typically reacts like a small child, shouting and beating his head against the walls of his cell, or pulling his covers over his head. Dr. O'Connor agrees; Ramon is easily frustrated because he lacks the ability to follow multiple-step commands. Dr. Keyes concluded that Ramon has "a severe cognitive and adaptive disability," and that his "overall mental capacities" "place[] him below the lowest percentile of intellectual functioning in the nation." He has "short[] attention spans, poor memory, poor planning ability, [and a] lack of ability to appreciate the consequences of [his] actions..." Neuropsychologist Ricardo Weinstein's testing supports Dr. Keyes's assessment of mental retardation, and also establishes that Mr. Martinez-Villareal suffers from dementia. His cognitive abilities are progressively worsening, and he suffers severe memory loss. Like a person with Alzheimer's disease, Mr. Martinez-Villareal's demented state impairs his ability from day to day to reliably recall events, names, or faces of people he has met. Dr. Harry S. Tamm, a mental health expert hired by the Arizona Attorney General to testify against Ramon at a 1997 competency hearing, has changed his mind after considering the supplemental evidence. In a declaration recently filed with the court, Dr.Tamm stated, "If I had been provided with information of this nature and quality, I would have testified that in my opinion Mr. Martinez-Villareal is not competent for execution." Based on all the evidence now available, even the trial judge and prosecutor agree that Ramon should not be executed. Former prosecutor Bruce Stirling readily acknowledged that because he was unaware of Mr. Martinez-Villareal's mental capacity, he misinterpreted many facts about the case, including his assumption that Ramon was responsible for behavior of his accomplices because he was much older then them. Stirling had also been bothered that Ramon smiled inappropriately at jurors and spectators during the trial, and upon being sentenced to death asked the trial judge for the return of the boots he had been wearing upon his arrest. In a statement to the Arizona Clemency Board, Stirling said, "I interpreted Ramon Martinez-Villareal's remarks as disinterested bravado rather than appreciating that they might be evidence of a mental disorder." He would have waived the death penalty if he had correctly surmised Mr. Martinez-Villareal's condition. At the same clemency hearing, Judge Roberto Montiel, who presided over Mr. Martinez?Villareal's trial and sentencing, testified that he "had some concerns" about Ramon's mental condition, but did not act on them because he assumed that a competent lawyer would have raised the issue if there had been any basis for it. Judge Montiel provided the Clemency Board with his current assessment of the case: |
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Q. Is it fair to say that Mr. Rothstein was both out-numbered and out-lawyered in that case? A. Yes. Q. And having seen the materials that were available to Mr. Rothstein at the time of that trial, do you have an opinion now as to whether Mr. Rothstein provided ineffective assistance of counsel? A. I think there is no question at least that at the sentencing stage that he did not provide adequate lawyering. |
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Judge Montiel believes that Ramon did not have a fair trial, and that it would be unfair to execute him. Many credible people have condemned Ramon's sentence of death as unjust. These include The Honorable Roberto Montiel, the trial judge who sentenced Ramon to death, Bruce Stirling, the trial prosecutor who charged him, Eduardo Savaadra, the former Arizona Justice of the Peace who arraigned him, Arizona Superior Court Judge Wallace Hoggat, Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Zlaket and Associate Justice Feldman, and the late United States District Court Judge Richard Bilby. Unfortunately, because of the mistakes of Ramon's court-appointed lawyers, each judge's finding has been mired in technical procedural issues which threaten to nullify the moral imperative against the execution of a person in Ramon's feeble mental condition. In spite of the overpowering evidence of Ramon's severely impaired condition, the Arizona Attorney General continues to vigorously pursue Ramon's execution. If you are interested in helping Ramon, please call or write Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano, 1275 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ, 85007-2926, Telephone (602) 542-4266, and urge her to spare Ramon's life.
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