More Victims

The Execution of a Mentally Ill Man

E-Mail    by Catherine Forbes 

I don't quite know where to begin, but I have a need and a responsibility to tell my story on how the State of Florida wrongfully executed my brother. He was executed on June 22nd, 2000. His name was Thomas Provenzano and he meant the world to me. Thomas was mentally ill and was incompetent to be executed. Even though it was proved that Thomas was mentally ill, "they" said he was competent to be executed. Think about that: competent enough to be killed. Thomas' illness began with headaches, and then his entire personality changed. I tried to get help, but we could not afford private hospitalization. Without Thomas' permission, I could get help only if he did something violent. When he did become violent, however, "help" came in the form of a death sentence.

Thomas believed that he was Jesus since the early seventies. The incident was committed in 1984. He even got mad at me for letting my son have much needed thyroid surgery because he said he healed him. There were many incidents like that one. Once he held his picture up to Jesus and said, "What do you see? It's me isn’t it?" The point I am trying to make is he was in a very bad way and yet they still put him through a trial and sentenced him to death. What they should have done was put him in a hospital where he belonged for so many years. Americans need to invest in true intervention programs, so people can get help for loved ones who are mentally ill before they harm themselves or an innocent person. If treatment had been available for Thomas, he would be alive today and so would the three people he harmed. He didn’t fully understand his crime because he thought it was a conspiracy to get Jesus. Seven Florida Supreme Judges all agreed that he truly believed that he was Jesus.

So at the time of that fatal injection who did they murder Jesus or Thomas? We’ll never know, will we? I wasn’t even able to have a last phone call with him that day. The warden denied me that last wish. Because Thomas believed he was Jesus he couldn’t, of course, prepare for his death. I know he felt he would be back in another form, because he said, "They can only get my body."

The night before an execution is an unimaginable nightmare. I had to go through that three times. The State of Florida chose to make me and my family victims too, despite the alternatives that existed. The public has a right to know how they treat our mentally ill in prisons all across America. My brother slept with a hand made mask over his mouth every day and night. He didn’t want the demons or voices to enter his body. At night he would holler at them to show themselves so he could kill them! He often even strapped a cardboard box around his back and slept under his bunk. Thomas did this for sixteen years! I can't believe this was allowed to go on so long and no one cared. This became normal behavior for Thomas. I didn’t have a clue how he was being treated until the end when it came out in court. When I heard of how they let him suffer like that and for so long I died inside and I’m still dying inside.

To me Thomas falls in the category of an innocent child not knowing what he did and not fully understanding what he was accused of doing. It makes him INNOCENT! So I can, without any reservations, accuse the State of Florida of taking an innocent life! There is so much more to my brother’s story and I pray to God that I can do something to reach as many people as I can to make them aware just how bad our Justice System truly is. I know there are others out there going through what Thomas and his family went through. The public only sees or hears about us on the eve of an execution . Of course we are crying and our hearts are about to be broken and that’s all they see. If the normal human being that believes in the death penalty can walk in our shoes for just one day it might change a few minds. That's why I would so much like to write a step by step piece on the last sixteen years of my brother’s incarceration.

There was no outpouring of support for the family of the condemned. In fact my children were beaten at school when their uncle was convicted as "a murderer." We did nothing wrong, but we were certainly punished. How can a society that despises violent crime so easily dismiss its own violent acts of retribution? The death of a loved one is always a terrible experience- particularly in the case of murder. But losing a loved one to execution is also a terrible experience that is virtually ignored by our society. Does this indifference somehow make executions more tolerable? The death penalty is a deliberate but avoidable act of homicide that always leaves a grieving family in its wake. Thomas’s cause of death says just that: homicide!!!! If this reaches and changes one person’s belief in executions then I can honestly say I made a difference.

SECOND PART

I would also like to mention that all the doctors that evaluated Thomas also found him to be incompetent, including Dr. Lyons, who was one of the most prominent of all. He was the doctor that came up with the Post War Syndrome. One of the doctors that Tommy saw before the incident who found him to be in a paranoid state was later one of the doctors used to testify for the State at time of trial. How ironic is that? Of course he said Thomas was sane enough to stand trial because he worked in that courtroom and for the State quite frequently. Even the three doctors the state hired conceded at the end that Tommy truly believed he was Jesus. He didn’t rationally understand but he factually understood why he was being put to death. But remember Thomas thought the whole story was made up to get Jesus so he really didn’t factually understand either.

Thomas was like a parrot. He would repeat everything someone told him. I would repeat things over and over to him until I felt he got it and could repeat it back. I still wanted to believe that I could get through to him and hoped that one day he would be normal and we could have a good conversation. But that never happened. When he would repeat conversations or some fifty dollar word that he heard they thought he was faking it. I had to take the stand at one of his hearings, by my suggestion to his lawyer, to clear up a statement that he made. He told someone that the jury vacillated in their decision about him. Thomas had no clue what that meant. He just repeated what I said. It was just like someone who is in a coma. You speak to them hoping that you are getting through.

That's how it was for me with Thomas. I spoke normally to him always. But I always agreed with him even if it was wrong. I had to do this so he didn’t think I was part of the conspiracy. At one time he did and he wouldn’t speak to me for years, so I couldn’t take that chance again. The prosecutor tried to trick me on the stand and jeopardize my relationship with Tommy at the end. He asked me straight out in front of Tommy if I thought Thomas was Jesus . I looked at Thomas and said, "My brother doesn't lie, sir, and if he says he is Jesus then that’s who he is. Besides I’ve never seen anyone that said they were Jesus so how do I know he isn’t?"

Dr. Fleming was there at the time and she thought that was a great response especially for Thomas. Dr. Fleming was another doctor that played a big part in trying to show overwhelming evidence of Thomas’s incompetence. I believe the records are public record for anyone to read so if you ever get a chance to read his files you will see just how overwhelming is the proof of his incompetence to be executed.

I don't think I could have made it through all of this without two very special people that I am convinced that God sent me. They are Steve Gustat and Rose Valdez. They have been my rock and guided me through so many rough times. I want to thank them for believing in Thomas and trying to help me make a difference for those behind him. Like I said I have so much more to say . Hopefully I can one day do a documentary or a book to get all of the facts out for everyone to hear.

Catherine Forbes

Sister of Thomas Provenzano

Reader Comments:

Dear Cell Door,

I just wanted to comment on the article "More Victims" by Catherine
Forbes.  I feel very strongly against the death penalty and this article
brought tears to my eyes.   After I read it, I called over my boyfriend to read it and all he could say was "Oh my God.... that's horrible."  it is very hard to find eloquently written articles against the death penalty but this was extremely well written and the subject matter is absolutely shocking. 

This is a story that might actually change some minds.  I hope you forward this note to her and I strongly suggest that you support this story. 
            Good Work,
                Cristina Marotta  
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I really want to thank you for the cell door article on your brother Tommy. I live in Massachusetts-a state with NO execution thank God. As in the recent news, 2 men were exonerated, sentenced to death until Massachusetts banished the death penalty. These 2 men were innocent of murder due to the fact of the FBI hiding evidence of their innocence. I do not believe in this justice system and believe that many innocent people have been executed. May God Bless you and your family most of all your brother Tommy-who the state of Florida DID murder
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Catherine,

 Thank you for sharing your life with us and your feelings and pain. I was really thinking about what you said in essence really that there is not thought given to the families because in the people's eyes it is legal and so that is just that, no further thought as to how it has affected the family, the loss of a loved one. I lost my sister in prison from a drug overdose and so I have empathy for you. I also want  to say that I am sorry for them who are not able to say it to you and I do help that that eases some of the pain. You keep on fighting for the  right thing. I work in prisons all over the country, but from a whole different perspective, our philosophy is that Change is Possible... I am also a former consumer of the correctional services as is most of us with our company and we have dedicated our lives to our population and leaving the door open... Here is our web site www.ggco.com God Bless Margie Candelaria

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