Executed, January 16, 2002

BY FAX: 512-463-1849

January 15, 2002

The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of the State of Texas
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428

Re: Jermarr Arnold

Dear Governor Perry:

I write on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union to urge you to grant Mr. Arnold a reprieve from execution and to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.  A careful review of the facts will reveal that death is not the appropriate punishment in this case. There are far too many questions concerning the facts of the murder for which Mr. Arnold is sentenced to die, and the influence of his mental illness on the fairness of capital trial, to allow a death sentence to go forward. While there are other facts that argue in favor of granting Mr. Arnold the relief that we are requesting, we will focus here on the question of the fairness of his capital trial.

Mental Illness Affecting the Fairness of Mr. Arnold's Capital Trial

There is substantial evidence that Mr. Arnold was suffering from serious mental illness during his capital trial, and that his mental illness seriously compromised his ability and the ability of his trial lawyers to have a full and fair hearing of all of the relevant facts in the case. Without such a full and fair hearing we cannot be assured that death is the appropriate sentence in this case.

Mr. Arnold was likely suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he was on trial. His illness affected his ability to assist his lawyers in preparing his case and his ability to make life and death decisions in his case. Mr. Arnold's illness might well have influenced the confession that the Government relied upon in seeking his conviction and death sentence.

Mr. Arnold was suicidal and he engaged in self-mutilation. He told trial counsel that he wanted jurors who would be prone to impose a death sentence. Most importantly, he would not allow his trial counsel to present mitigating evidence, cross-examine witnesses, ask for mercy or make a closing argument deconstructing the government's case against him. In our view, these facts greatly undermine our confidence in the reliability of Mr. Arnold's conviction and death sentence.

Mr. Arnold's behavior during his capital trial is consistent with the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia provided by two psychiatrists. His life followed an all too familiar path. He was as a ""nice young man"" as described by newspaper publisher Jim Head of the Southwest Daily Times. He was a bright young man who in his early adulthood began a downward spiral into bizarre and self-destructive behavior, with periods of psychosis.  Mr. Arnold's history of mental illness, including an earlier adjudication of ""not guilty by reason of insanity"" in another case and his behavior before and during the trial raised serious concerns about the government's ability to provide him with a fair trial.

It now falls to this clemency process, in these final hours, to determine whether the quality of justice rendered here was adequate to meet fundamental standards of fairness and due process. There is much at stake-the life of this individual and the integrity of the system that would exact a punishment as awesome as death. We respectfully submit that the circumstances of this case do not begin to meet the standards required for fairness.

The ACLU opposes capital punishment in all cases as a barbarous anachronism and in violation of the U.S. Constitution. We believe the facts of this case and justice requires that Mr. Arnold's receive a reprieve and that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

Sincerely,