Texas slow, tortuous fight to kill a mentally ill man
Scott Panetti is very seriously mentally ill. He once buried his furniture in his backyard in the belief that this would purge the devil, who Panetti believed to have possessed his home. He was institutionalized about a dozen times, often involuntarily, for suicidal and homicidal behavior. Eventually, Panetti’s illness overcame him, and he murdered his estranged wife’s parents.
At Panetti’s trial, he was inexplicably allowed to represent himself. With his life on the line, Panetii wore a purple bandana around his neck, a cowboy hat and suspenders. He tried to call the Pope, Jesus Christ, and John F. Kennedy to the witness stand. And he sometimes shifted into an alternate personality named “Sgt. Ranahan Ironhorse.”
https://thinkprogress.org/texas-kill-mentally-ill-b767c3d7ffc0