Insanity On Death Row

Mentally Ill Prisoner Who Murdered Woman In 1985 In Tennessee Could Be Executed

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on Nov. 11, 2007. It was updated on Aug. 8, 2008

When it comes to prisoners on death row who are insane, the law is very clear: you cannot execute them. The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional and deemed it "cruel and unusual punishment."

But can medication make a prisoner sane enough to be executed? As we first reported last year, that question is being asked in the case of convicted killer Greg Thompson.

As correspondent Lara Logan reports, Thompson was originally found competent to stand trial, but prison doctors have concluded he is mentally ill and they give him medication every day.

Thompson's lawyers are going back to court this fall and will argue that he is still insane on the medication, which he was taking the day 60 Minutes met with him.

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Thompson told Logan he had to stab his food to eat it. "Especially eggs. They be popping up," he said. "Hit me in the face. You got to stab it. And then you gotta eat it quick. Real quick."

60 Minutes met Thompson inside a maximum security prison in Nashville.

He has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and psychotic by both prison doctors and those hired by his lawyers. And he has been medicated by the state for most of his 23 years on death row. Thompson receives a daily cocktail of anti-psychotic mood-stabilizing pills, and injections twice a month.

Asked if he knows why he's getting medication, Thompson told Logan, "Yeah, I’m nuts."

He says he only takes 10 pills a day now.

"What happens if you don’t take them?" Logan asked.

"I go lulu," Thompson replied.

"Tell me what going lulu is for you," Logan asked.

"In a few days I would like lose my mind and it would be trying to explode on me," he replied. "I got in a fight with the guards a lot of times, you know. Tried to kill a few."

"Did you kill any of them?" Logan asked.

"No," Thompson said. "But at the time they was turning into insects. And I wanted to kill them."

"The guards were turning into insects?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, they were giant insects," Thompson said. "They was acting just like the guards, but they were aliens. And I had to kill the aliens. They were attacking the world."

A psychologist who has been evaluating Thompson for nine years says he sees, hears and smells things that aren’t there, and suffers from extreme paranoid delusions and hallucinations.

But when Thompson was put on trial in 1985, his lawyers did not raise insanity as a defense. He confessed, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Brenda Lane. She was 28 years old, well-liked in her community and she had been married just a few months.

The facts of what happened on New Year's Day in 1985 have never been in dispute. Thompson and his girlfriend, a juvenile, wanted to get from Tennessee to Georgia, so they kidnapped Brenda Lane, stole her car and then drove around for an hour and a half on remote country roads, as Thompson searched for a place to kill her.

They stopped along a rural country road near a field. Thompson then stabbed Brenda four times in the back and drove off, leaving her to die alone in the cold and the dark.

[briansgirl2]

I''m a Christian, but I say - - - "take him out". That poor woman must have gone through all kinds of emotions while these two drove around looking for a death sight for her. What happened to his accomplice in this crime? I didn''t see the report on 60 minutes.

[kennedy7955]

When it comes to prisoners on death row who are insane, the law is very clear: you cannot execute them. The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional and deemed it "cruel and unusual punishment."

The actions of the defendant regardless of their mental condition should be the sole focus of any trial and its conclusion.

[sugarfootsms]

This man wasn''t crazy when he committed this murder. He played crazy so much that they medicated his phony mental mind and now he experience side effects from his medication. The side effects doesn''t seem to be harmful to others. The side effects gives him hallucinations and etc, but he can stay that way and still under medication be executed. The system has made a new man out of him by feeding him drugs to change his mind and personality. He will be fixed like this for life. If you take the medicine away, you may cause something more serious to brain damage and then you won''t be able to relate to him at all. All I''m saying is the State has fixed him,(not healed him)and he can be executed in this state of mind. He knows this and that''s why he mentioned it would be unfair for them to kill him while he is on meds. But it''s too late to take the medicine back. So let him sue, and give the money to the victim''s family. But one thing for sure, he doesn''t need to be around anybody, not even the mental hospital has to put up with a mutiple personality criminal messed up from med''s in a prison facility. HOLLA-BACK!!

[samlawson1]

Since when is this Lara Logan a 60 Minutes journalist now? I thought I could at least watch one serious show on network television where some young hotty wearing tight clothes and having her blouse halfway unbottunned wouldn''t exist, but I guess I''m wrong. I do research on this lady and find out she''s sleeping around with soldiers and colleagues in Iraq. I thought this was at least one show I could watch on television with my sons without it being sexually charged but obviously I was wrong.

[moonshadow22]

The fact we must face here, it that frankly the world is a better place without some people on it. These people are specifically murderers, rapists, and child molesters who repeatedly do long lasting harm to others. Some offenders are capable of rehabilitation to the point where they know exactly how much harm they have done, and they should spend the rest of their life in a hellhole. Some people (like this guy) just need to die. They are not worth the effort.

[moonshadow22]

The fact we must face here, it that frankly the world is a better place without some people on it. These people are specifically murderers, rapists, and child molesters who repeatedly do long lasting harm to others. Some offenders are capable of rehabilitation to the point where they know exactly how much harm they have done, and they should spend the rest of their life in a hellhole. Some people (like this guy) just need to die. They are not worth the effort.

[moonshadow22]

The fact we must face here, it that frankly the world is a better place without some people on it. These people are specifically murderers, rapists, and child molesters who repeatedly do long lasting harm to others. Some offenders are capable of rehabilitation to the point where they know exactly how much harm they have done, and they should spend the rest of their life in a hellhole. Some people (like this guy) just need to die. They are not worth the effort.

[patriot12436]

obes99
You are one of the reasons i like having Canada for a nerighbor. Even if you disagree with the death penalty you make perfect sense. We do not have to agree to get along.

[obes99]

Just my two cents worth...and hopefully the victims'' family reads this, and 60 minutes producers.
My name is Paul. I live in southern Ontario and I''ve worked as an RN in Psychiatry for 15 years. I have had the opportunity to work in some of the most respected psychiatric facilities in North America, including Yale and Homewood HC and currenttly at a maximum security forensic psychiatric hospital. I am a small fish in a big pond but it''s that kind of humility that I hope all those who hear my point of view will respect.
I have grown up with 60 minutes as a staple in my life. That being said I have never been so disappointed in the journalistic level I''ve come to expect. I have interviewed thousands of Pts in similar circumstances. This man IS NOT PSYCHOTIC. I have worked with thousands of Pts who are antisocial(previously known as psychopaths/sociopaths)and thousands who are truly psychotic. It is very easy to diagnose someone who is psychotic. Their thoughts are disorganized and genuinely look like they are distracted by auditory/visual hallucinations. This man processed each question and fed the interviewer with what would ''sound crazy''.
As a typical Canadian, I don''t agree with capital punishment but it is disturbing that the gist of this story is that he is ''insane''. I don''t buy it and as Americans, you should be ashamed that a liberal thinking Canadian thinks you let this murderer off too easy.
60 Minutes, Regretfully yours,
Paul

[cesarc47]

I''m a supporter of the death penalty, also knowlwedgeable of mental ilness. This report played down the fact that this man was probably sick in 1985 when this crime was comitted.Thoght we know little about his condition, we do know that it usually manifest itself in most people in their late teens early twenties. There was no metion of the fact that his condition cannot be cured all the drugs do is give him relief from his symptoms. He is sentensed to life under medication.