A colossal waste....

In 1991, James Brett killed Kenneth Milosevich.

In 1992, James Brett was convicted of murder and sentenced to death here in the State of Washington. Three years later, in 1995, his conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Then, counsel was appointed to represent Brett in his Personal Restraint Petition. Here's what was discovered:

Dr. Julia T. Moore, a licensed, board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, reviewed Brett's Department of Juvenile Rehabilitation and school records, as well as other medical reports and records and affidavits from family members. She performed a clinical interview of Brett and concluded to a reasonable medical certainty that Brett suffered from bipolar disorder, fetal alcohol effect or alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, and a psychiatric sequela as a consequence of poorly controlled diabetes. She further testified that Brett had suffered from bipolar disorder since at least age nine.

Dr. Robert A. Olsen, a board-certified medical doctor of internal medicine, psychiatry, and geriatric psychiatry, diagnosed Brett with "brittle" type 1 diabetes, a rare form of the disease, with severe medical and psychiatric consequences. Dr. Olsen testified that, in the short term, the disease could create wild fluctuations in blood sugar and could impair cognitive functions. In the long term, the disease could cause brain and heart damage, such as cognitive problems, dementia, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, and autonomic neuropathy. Brett's diabetic symptoms could have been aggravated by exposure to alcohol in childhood and throughout his adult life. Dr. Olsen concluded that the diabetes manifested itself when James Brett was nine years old.

Dr. Robin A. LaDue, a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in neuropsychology and renowned expert on fetal alcohol exposure, testified as to the impact of Brett's fetal alcohol condition. Dr. LaDue testified that Brett's fetal alcohol effect revealed "a pattern of brain damage most likely related to prenatal alcohol exposure." In her opinion, this brain damage had a "significant impact" on Brett's mental abilities, including his impaired judgment, his inability to understand cause and effect, and his difficulty controlling impulses.

None of this evidence was contested by the State.

None of this evidence had been presented to the jury that sentenced Brett to death.

So, in 2001, a decade after the crime, Brett's death sentence was overturned. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

While Brett's original trial attorneys should certainly be blamed for their negligence, you have to wonder if all of this could have been avoided if a law existed that made individuals, likes James Brett, who suffer from severe mental diabilities ineligible for a death sentence.

If we had such a law in 1991, could we have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, avoided much anguish, and reached justice quicker? I think the obvious answer is "yes."