Prisoner on Death Row Hangs Himself

A prisoner on San Quentin’s Death Row hanged himself Friday, and his attorney charged that prison officials disregarded repeated warnings that he was deeply psychotic and suicidal.

Ronald E. Fuller, 35, convicted of killing a cab driver in Culver City in 1982, was found hanging from a torn bed sheet about 10:35 a.m. He was pronounced dead at 11 a.m., Sgt. Vernell Crittendon of San Quentin said.

Fuller is the third San Quentin Death Row prisoner to kill himself in nine months.

“I have never known of any case where authorities had so much warning,” said attorney Robert R. Bryan, adding that he had sent a “regular stream” of letters about Fuller’s severe mental illness and suicidal tendencies.

“We warned them and warned them and warned them,” Bryan said.

San Quentin prison administrators transferred Fuller at least twice to the California Medical Facility at Vacaville for observation and treatment of his emotional problems.

But in a letter to Fuller’s mother in June, 1987, Warden Daniel Vasquez said Fuller refused treatment, and the staff at Vacaville concluded that he was “competent enough to make decisions about his treatment.”

“Let me assure you,” the warden said in the letter, “that San Quentin medical staff have been doing everything possible to meet the needs of your son and will continue to do so.

“The fact still remains, however, that we cannot and will not force an individual such as your son to take medication or submit to other forms of psychiatric treatment. The very best we can do is to continue to monitor his condition closely and offer treatment whenever appropriate.”

Bryan charged, however, that while the prison staff monitors “everything including when he goes to the bathroom,” officials “split hairs regarding” his treatment.

Bryan alleged that the prison administration refused to acknowledge the depth of Fuller’s insanity out of a concern that he would be permanently removed from Death Row. By law, a prisoner cannot be executed if he is not mentally competent.

Only last month, the state Supreme Court granted Bryan’s request to convene a hearing to test Fuller’s competency. Bryan believed that he would have been able to prove that Fuller was incompetent and have him transferred off Death Row.

“I told him that we won. He said, ‘What difference does it make,’ ” Bryan said in an interview on Friday.

Fuller often complained that electrodes had been implanted in his body to monitor his thoughts. Dr. Fred Rosenthal, a psychiatrist in private practice who examined Fuller at Bryan’s request, reported that Fuller was “actively psychotic,” deeply depressed and “at risk for suicide.”

Bryan said he attempted to visit Fuller last July, only to be told when he arrived at San Quentin that Fuller had smeared feces over himself and his cell. That prompted Bryan to write to Vasquez urging that Fuller be sent again to Vacaville.

“I believe that Mr. Fuller continues to be suicidal,” Bryan said in the letter. “ . . . In view of his many suicide attempts and chronic abnormal behavior, I feel that Mr. Fuller will take his own life.”

Fuller represented himself in his trial in 1982 and 1983 for the murder of Barry W. Cravey, 37, a United Checker Cab driver. Fuller had been arrested 100 feet from Cravey’s cab. Cravey was found in the trunk, shot through the head.