STATE OF TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE A MAN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION.
We recently learned
that the State of Texas plans to execute Johnny Paul Penry.
On that date, Penry will be strapped to a gurney and given a
lethal injection of poison. Not known for its compassion or
respect for the human rights of individuals, the State of Texas
is focused on sending only one message with this act that not
even the U.S. Supreme Court has the right to tell the State of
Texas how to decide who it will kill.
In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the State of Texas needed
to re-do the penalty phase of Penry's trial to see if there were
mitigating factors in his mental retardation that had to be
considered by a jury. But Texas did a complete evidentiary
re-trial and a second penalty phase and convinced the jury that
Penry was "faking mental retardation." The jury was out
a mere 2 1/2 hours before it concluded that the original verdict
-- death -- must stand. But what about the real Johnny Paul
Penry?
Johnny spent many years in state institutions for people with
mental retardation. Then, suddenly, he was released to an aimless
and lonely "freedom" in the community with absolutely
no after care or support.Johnny underwent numerous tests taken
from age 7 to age 34. During that period his so-called IQ numbers
ranged from 43 to 63. One psychiatrist during that entire 27 year
span found one IQ to be 72 -- two points above the cut off of 70.
The psychiatrist claimed that 72 as Johnny's "personal
best." Therefore, the psychiatrist said Johnny faked all of
the other tests. Johnny has an extremely short attention span and
lacks focus. During one of the trials the prosecutor screamed
that Penry [was] a "vicious psychopath." But Johnny was
more interested in a person coughing in the audience. Johnny is
impulsive always trying to do things too quickly. He is prone to
misjudgment -- trying to do right things that turned out wrong.
Johnny has spent his whole life trying to figure out how to
please others. Court recesses would find him smiling at the
audience in search of one person -- just one -- who would smile
back. Did he do it? He did. He was attracted to a woman he met
earlier in the week. Then one morning he rode his bicycle to her
house. He struck up a conversation in her doorway. She tried to
get rid of him, but he forced himself into the house. She stabbed
him in the back with her scissors. He beat her viciously. Then he
stabbed her with the scissors and rode his bicycle home.As for
killing him, does "the little psychopath" have it
coming? Many Texans feel he does. It seems like all Texas
politicians want him dead. The woman as lovely and well-like, the
sister of an MVP player the Washington Redskins. It was wrong.
She should have never been assaulted and killed the way she was.
But let us share this.
• If, as a baby you kept getting the crap beat out of you,
• If your skin had been burnt all over by lit cigarettes,
• If you had been screamed at because you couldn't learn like other kids,
• If you were locked up in a room all day long,
• If you had to eat your own fecal matter when you had accidents,
• And if you had to drink urine from the toilet for the same reason . . .
You might have been
just like Johnny Paul Penry. Johnny has been on death row in
Texas for approximately 20 years now and his mental abilities are
still those of a small child. Please raise your voices and let
the officials in Texas know that not all people, in or outside of
Texas, believe that it is moral, just or humane to put Johnny
Paul Penry to death.
Please write, fax or phone Governor George W. Bush, Jr. or the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles:
P.O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 787111
Phone-512-406-54081
Fax-512-406-5810
BEVERLY GEORGE ACTIVIST FOR PRISON REFORM HUMAN RIGHTS MENTAL HEALTH, MAGNOLIA, TEXAS 77353-0916