High Court to Hear Texas Death Row Appeal
Nov. 27 -- The Supreme Court agreed today to hear an appeal from Texas death-row inmate Johnny Paul Penry, who is said to be so mentally retarded he spends his days coloring with crayons and still believes in Santa Claus.
The justices blocked Penry’s execution earlier this month, just hours before he was to be put to death. The execution will remain on hold until the justices issue a ruling, expected by July.
The court said it will use the case to clarify how much opportunity jurors in death-penalty cases must have to consider the defendant’s mental capacity.
“He’s a very seriously impaired person,” defense attorney Robert Smith said today.
Penry was to become 38th Texas inmate to be executed this year — the highest number by any state since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.
Penry was condemned for raping and fatally stabbing and beating 22-year-old East Texas housewife Pamela Moseley Carpenter in 1979. He was on parole at the time for a rape.
Carpenter was stabbed repeatedly in the chest with a pair of scissors she had been using to make Halloween decorations.
‘An IQ Between 50 and 60’Penry’s lawyers described him as having an IQ of 50 to 60 and the reasoning capacity of a 7-year-old.
In the appeal acted on today, his lawyers said the jury instruction unfairly limited jurors’ consideration of his mentalcapacity and the fact that he suffered “horrific” abuse by his mother when he was a child.
His lawyers also said prosecutors during the murder trial wrongly used a report on a 1977 psychiatric exam of Penry while he was being held on a earlier rape charge.
The doctor said he would be a danger if released, but Penry’s lawyers said Penry was not warned his words could be used against him.
‘Purposefully Deceptive?’Prosecutors said Penry is ignorant, not retarded. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn said Penry is “a schemer, a planner and can be purposefully deceptive.”
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