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A bill aims to keep the severely mentally ill off Death Row.

State Rep. Verla Insko filed a bill this week that would prevent prosecutors from giving the death penalty to people who were not able to understand their crime due to a severe mental illness.

Under the bill, a hearing would be held on the defendant's mental health before the trial, rather than after. Insko said that would cut down on post-sentencing litigation.

Although some other states list the specific illnesses, Insko said her proposal was actually narrower because it only says that the defendant had to be incapable of understanding what they were doing at the time of the crime.

She pointed out that some people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for example, could understand the consequences of a crime if they were properly medicated.

The Chapel Hill Democrat said that she believes the bill would only affect one or two capital punishment cases a year.

A 2001 bill prohibited the death penalty for the mentally retarded. 

A medical researcher says banning Salvia would hinder research.

Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill, is studying Salvia divinorum and its chemical derivatives to see if they can be of use for anti-psychotic medication.

He said that the herb, traditionally used in indigenous religious ceremonies in Mexico, acts on a different receptor in the brain than other hallucinogens such as LSD. By studying how it works, he hopes to find ways to treat Alzheimer's disease, depression and schizophrenia.

"Outlawing it basically brings research to a halt," he said.

Roth runs a psychoactive drug screening program for the National Institute of Mental Health at UNC. He said he's aware of at least four drug patents from Salvia-derived chemical compounds that have already been submitted, including his own.

Based on his research and other studies, Roth said the herb's active ingredient, Salvinorin A, is not addictive and leads to a dream-like state. Although a few cases have been reported of people becoming violent while using it, he said its effects only last about 15 minutes and typically do not lead to aggression.

Roth said many regular users of hallucinogens have said they do not enjoy the herb's effects and typically use it only once.

"Most people don't like it," he said. "It's just too intense."

Roy Cooper said reports of deaths in state mental hospitals should be made public.

During a taping of "Headline Saturday," the state attorney general was asked about the heavy redactions of reports by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

"We believe, and have advised the department, those death notices should be open," he said. "We know there are significant problems with our mental health system. ... I do believe that, overall, the most important thing is erring on the side of public disclosure."

Thursday evening, a spokeswoman said Cooper had misspoken about the details of what the office had advised DHHS officials.

"The attorney general believed that department attorneys had advised that death records should be open but determined this afternoon that this was not the case," said Noelle Talley in a statement. 

She said he is working with legislators to change the law so that they can be open. (N&O)

State agencies are starting to come up with concrete proposals to cut spending.

Gov. Beverly Perdue asked budget officials to put together itemized lists of cuts they would make to help meet a $2 billion shortfall.

Suggestions so far range from closing prisons to delaying car purchases to canceling trips.

The N.C. Department of Transportation said it would slash $54 million, or 8 percent, of the money used to fix and clean roads. At least seven prisons would close; inmate drug testing and chaplains would be reduced.

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources would cut $100,000 in aid to keep mud from construction sites out of creeks. More costs would shift to cities and counties.

Grants to rape crisis centers would disappear and mental hospitals would have fewer beds. (N&O)

Maria Spaulding, long a fixture in local health and social services administration, has been named a state Department of Health and Human Services deputy secretary.

Spaulding is the former director of Wake County Human Services. She retired in 2006.
On Monday, she becomes deputy secretary for long-term care and family services, replacing the retiring Jackie Sheppard, Lynn Bonner reports.

She will oversee the programs and activities of the divisions of aging and adult services, child development, vocational rehabilitation, and other offices.

"Maria is exactly the creative and innovative leader we need to carry the Department forward in the coming years in its mission to provide key services to some of state’s most vulnerable citizens," DHHS secretary Lanier Cansler said in a statement.

In her years as head of Wake human services, Spaulding was an outspoken critic of the state's mental health reform.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell
Concord Republican
Tenth Term

What two things would you cut in the state budget? He said two studies that have come back from the Government Performance Audit that would reform the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the mental health system could provide some savings.

Are there any taxes you would be in favor of increasing? "I don’t have any problems looking at tobacco taxes," he said.

— Rob Christensen 

Gov. Beverly Perdue made a surprise visit to the troubled state mental hospital in Goldsboro today.

During the campaign, Perdue promised surprise visits to state institutions. The state mental hospitals have repeatedly run into trouble with federal regulators, Lynn Bonner reports.

Cherry had its federal money taken away because inspectors determined the hospital was unsafe.

The hospital made national news in August when inspectors discovered hospital staff largely ignored a man who sat dying in a chair for nearly a day.

Will reports on deaths in the mental health system be more available? 

The state, which had pledged transparency on mental-health related issues, fell back on that promise over time, releasing censored reports on deaths and assaults in state mental hospitals that make it impossible to tell what happened.

Former state Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton, through his spokesman, defended the practice of blacking out nearly every word of death and police reports, Lynn Bonner reports.

That may change in Gov. Beverly Perdue's administration. Perdue said she will "err on the side of public information."

Her DHHS secretary Lanier Cansler reiterated that position today. Cansler said when he spoke with Benton last week, the former secretary mentioned an issue with redactions.

Cansler said he hasn't had time to study it, but will follow Perdue's lead.

To the extent that they won't violate privacy laws, information will be available, Cansler said.

"From my standpoint, it makes it easier for me to fix things sometimes whenever they're out in the open, when people know what issues are and what needs to be done to fix them."

A coalition of advocates for the mentally ill and a state Superior Court judge spoke in favor today of legislation that would exclude the severely mentally ill from the death penalty.

Draft legislation introduced at a joint legislative committee today would allow a judge to determine that a defendant suffered from severe mental illness at the time of the killing. The defendant would still face a murder trial, but the worst punishment would be life without parole, Dan Kane reports.

Advocates of the legislation say it would only apply to those with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, or from severe brain injuries. Those whose criminal acts were the result of drug or alcohol abuse would not be eligible.

"We're talking about individuals whose distortion of thinking is so severe that it's difficult for us to imagine," said James Ellis, a University of New Mexico law professor who successfully argued to the U.S. Supreme Court several years ago that the mentally retarded should not be executed.

More after the jump.

Another potential governor might have tapped Lanier Cansler too.

Appointing the Republican to lead the state Department of Health and Human Services gave Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue the chance to note that she'll ignore party affiliations to get reliable agency heads, Lynn Bonner reports.

Another candidate for governor, Republican Fred Smith, turned to Cansler, too. Cansler worked with Smith on his health policies and on Smith's mental health position paper. Smith lost in the GOP primary.

Cansler also contributed $1,000 to Smith's campaign in 2006.

An interesting bit of trivia: According to his voter registration information, the "M" stands for Moose.