Battaglia v. State

Alcala, J.,

filed a dissenting opinion.

At what point does a defendant’s severe mental illness rise to the level that it renders him incompetent to be executed for capital murder under the applicable law in the Eighth Amendment to the federal Constitution and Texas statutory law? I conclude that under this applicable law, a defendant is incompetent to be executed when (1) he does not understand that he is to be executed and that the execution is imminent, or (2) he lacks a rational understanding of .the reason for his execution due to delusions stemming from a severe mental illness that place…