Tune in for another episode of "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum."

There is no common sense anymore. We can't execute Steven Staley because he won't take his anti-psychotic drugs. And we can't make him take his drugs. This has nothing to do with how sane he was when he killed the manager of a Steak & Ale restaurant after terrorizing the employees during a robbery there.

So now, I guess pretty much any death row inmate can get around his sentence by claiming to be psychotic and refusing to take his drugs. John Stickels, Staley's attorney, said, "It's time for us to recognize that it's not civilized to forcibly medicate someone to execute them." 

To John Stickels I say, "It's time for us to realize that it's not civilized to not carry out the sentence of a man who terrorizes thirty people, robs them, then kidnaps one and shoots him in the head." And don't tell me he didn't know what he was doing! And don't tell me he doesn't understand what he's doing now. Of course he does, and it's a slap in the face to his victim's family that we let him get away with it!

But on the off-chance that Staley really is psychotic and doesn't know what he's doing, he should be spending 24 hours a day in a straight-jacket in a padded room. After all, if he's not restrained, who knows what danger from this crazy man the guards are being subjected to.

"Court: No forced competency drugs." The Dallas Morning News; September 12, 2013; p. 1A.