History of Duane Owen's mental illness, Part I
In light of the litigation pending related to Owen’s mental competency for execution, this series reviews the history of evidence and documentation related to Owen’s mental illness.
That is the last line of the trial court’s 1999 sentencing order in which the court sentenced Duane Owen to death for the Slattery murder—not the murder for which Gov. DeSantis issued the death warrant.
Duane Owen’s execution is currently scheduled for June 15, 2023. The full background of Owen’s case can be found here.
In light of the litigation pending related to Owen’s mental competency for execution, this post reviews the entire history of evidence and documentation related to Owen’s mental illness. (The last update on the litigation can be found here.)
Before 1984
The trial court found in its 1999 sentencing order for the Slattery murder that Owen’s childhood was “one of the more horrific childhoods,” as shown by uncontested evidence, that the court had seen. The trial court explained:
Later in the order, the court notes that Owen may also have suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome.1
At nine years old, Owen “began to experience sexual abuse." His older brothers sexually exploited him, and he began to “exploit other children sexually.” Meanwhile, Owen “continued to witness and/or hear his mother being physically abused and raped by his father.”
Owen’s mother passed away when he was 11.2 His mother’s death caused his older half brother’s situation to change:
Owen was also “subjected to watching [his older half-brother] being flung across the room, beaten with a belt, smashed in the face with a fist” and had listened to his older half-brother “be told that he was going to be killed.”3
Owen and his older brother continued to live with their father. “His father, who . . . had drinking problems even before that time, continued to drink heavily.”4 Two years later, when Owen was 13, Owen’s father died by suicide in the garage of their home.5
Shortly after his father’s death, Owen and his brother were moved to the VFW orphanage in Michian.6 According to the trial court, the orphanage was just as bad:
The trial court determined that, “at the end of his teen years [Owen] moved out into society as an emotionally scarred and severely disturbed individual with virtually no support system.”
At age 17, while living at the VFW home, he attempted suicide and had to be hospitalized.7
In 1981, the trial court said, Owen “suffer[ed] a head injury . . . when a car that had been jacked up fell on his head.”8 The trial court observed that “[t]he injury may have aggravated his antisocial behavior.”
1984-86
March 1984 - Slattery murder
May 29, 1984 - Worden murder
May 30, 1984 - Owen arrested for Worden murder
July 11, 1984 - Owen charged with Worden murder
February 1986 - Owen tried for Worden murder. There were only two witnesses who presented any evidence at trial related to Owen’s mental illness.9 After the trial, Owen raised several claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.
1994-96
1994
Owen writes a letter to Dr. Fredrick Berlin “about gender identity disorder.”10
Dr. Faye Sultan examined Owen.
June 17, 1994 - Dr. Barry Crown examined Owen.
1995
Defense hired Dr. Berlin to examine Owen.
Dr. Faye Sultan examined Owen.
March 8, 1996 - Dr. Berlin examined Owen for four hours.11
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant and execution process.
The Record of Appeal for the currently pending Florida Supreme Court case is referenced as the “ROA.” See ROA at 812-13.
ROA at 382.
ROA at 564.
ROA at 382.
In addition to the 1999 sentencing order, this information is in the ROA at 382.
ROA at 382.
ROA at 395, 556.
For more information on this, see ROA at 811.
Per Owen’s Reply Brief filed May 30, 2023, the “two penalty phase witnesses present[ed] minimal mitigation . . . .”
The Record of Appeal for the currently pending Florida Supreme Court case is referenced as the “ROA.” This information is in the ROA at 369-70.
ROA at 326, 368.