August 1, 2018 The Honorable Bill Haslam Governor of Tennessee 1st Floor, State Capitol Nashville, TN 37243 Re: Request for Executive Clemency for Billy Ray Irick Dear Governor Haslam, We are writing on behalf of the national office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and NAMI Tennessee, to respectfully request that you commute Billy Ray Irick’s death sentence to life in prison due to his long term severe mental illness. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI Tennessee is NAMI’s state organization in Tennessee and the largest grassroots organization focused on mental health conditions in the state, with 23 local affiliates throughout the state. As Chief Executive Officer of NAMI and Executive Director of NAMI Tennessee respectively, we are all too aware of the harmful impact that false, negative stereotypes associating mental illness with violence can have on societal perceptions. However, we are also aware that a small number of people may engage in acts of violence due to the symptoms of their severe illnesses. In some cases, such as Billy Ray Irick’s case, powerful delusions or hallucinations characteristic of psychosis may lead a person to act in ways they never would have otherwise. Societal lack of understanding about mental illness is one of the reasons NAMI supports an exemption to the death penalty for people with severe mental illness. People with these conditions are more likely to be sentenced to death than those without mental illness due to false perceptions that these individuals are inherently violent and beyond redemption. We also know that jurors are frequently presented with inaccurate information about defendants with severe mental illness, reinforcing perceptions that the crimes were products of willful choices rather than the severe, untreated symptoms of their mental illness. NAMI and NAMI-Tennessee request that the execution of Billy Ray Irick be commuted to life without parole for the following reasons. • Executing Billy Ray Irick would run contrary to constitutional restrictions on imposing capital punishment on persons with diminished capacity due to mental disabilities. Mr. Irick’s severe mental illness was first detected at the age of 6, when he was referred for NAMI ● 3803 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 ● Arlington, VA 22203-1701 (703) 524-7600 ● www.nami.org mental health treatment by teachers and administrators at the school he was attending due to his erratic and disturbing behaviors. At age 8, he was committed to the Eastern State Psychiatric Hospital due to his severe psychiatric symptoms where he remained for 10 months. His serious and sometimes disruptive psychiatric symptoms continued throughout his adolescence and into early adulthood. In 1999, 13 years after his trial, conviction and sentence of death, investigators working on an appeal interviewed the step family of the girl who was murdered and with whom Irick had been living with at the time of the crime. They signed affidavits stating that Irick was very paranoid, hallucinating, hearing voices, and “talking with the devil” during this period. From all reports, Irick’s severe mental illness has continued unabated during his many years of incarceration. The fact that eight experts, working for both the state and the defense, agree that he suffers from severe mental illness is powerful evidence in support of this point. The U.S. Supreme Court, in banning the execution of people with intellectual disabilities and juveniles, has clearly stated that it is cruel and unusual to impose the ultimate penalty of death on people whose brains may not be fully developed or are impaired in some way or another.i The Court has further clarified that the death penalty cannot be carried out on individuals whose mental illness or disability impairs their capacity to rationally understand the nature of the crimes committed or the reasons why the death penalty is being carried out.ii The criminal code of Tennessee emphasizes that the death penalty, when carried out, should be limited to cases in which aggravating factors clearly outweigh mitigating factors. And, severe mental illness is included under two of the factors listed in Title 39, Ch. 3, Part 2, Sect. 39-D-204 in mitigation against the death penalty. (j)(2): “The murder was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance;” (j)(8): “The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of the defendant’s conduct or to conform the defendant’s conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired as a result of mental disease or defect or intoxication, which was insufficient to establish a defense to the crime but which substantially affected the defendant’s judgment.” • Information about Billy Ray Irick’s severe mental illness and its impact was never properly considered at his trial or his sentencing. At trial, the State’s psychiatric expert testified that he did not believe there was any evidence of mental illness. He based this conclusion on a one-hour interview he conducted with Irick. However, when presented with the new evidence uncovered by the investigator in 1999, he recanted his findings and stated that “in light of this new evidence, my previous evaluation and 2 NAMI ● 3803 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 ● Arlington, VA 22203-1701 (703) 524-7600 ● www.nami.org the resulting opinion were incomplete and therefore not accurate.” He further stated that “without further testing and evaluation, no confidence should be placed in Mr. Irick’s 1985 evaluations of competency to stand trial and mental condition at the time of defense.” When this information was presented to the District Court, the Court determined that it could not consider the merits of this new evidence due to a technicality. “Therefore, accurate information concerning Irick’s mental state at the time of the crime was not presented at trial or sentencing, nor has it ever been heard of considered by any Court.” (emphasis added). It is clear that the process of fairly evaluating the impact of mental illness as a mitigating factor did not occur. Governor Haslam, in view of these factors which raise serious concerns about the impact of Billy Ray Irick’s severe mental illness on his actions at the time of his crime, NAMI and NAMITennessee respectfully request that you step in and stop his execution. While we in no way wish to excuse the severity or impact of his crime, we believe that executing Mr. Irick on August 9th will only compound the original tragedy, represent a profound injustice, and serve as neither retribution nor deterrence. We therefore implore you to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Thank you for your careful attention to this letter. Sincerely, Mary T. Giliberti, J.D., Chief Executive Officer NAMI i ii Jeff Fladen, Executive Director NAMI Tennessee Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002); Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986); Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. 930 (2007). 3 NAMI ● 3803 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 ● Arlington, VA 22203-1701 (703) 524-7600 ● www.nami.org