Panetti V. Quarterman

Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. 930 (2007), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, ruling that criminal defendants sentenced to death may not be executed if they do not understand the reason for their imminent execution, and that once the state has set an execution date death-row inmates may litigate their competency to be executed in habeas corpus proceedings. This decision reaffirmed the Court's prior holdings in Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986), and Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, 523 U.S. 637 (1998).

Read more about Panetti V. Quarterman:  Background, Dissenting Opinion, See Also