One of the more interesting things I've discovered about America is the contradiction as to what is professed in its Constitution and the Deceleration of Independence. In both documents the founders claim to profess that all "men are created equal" except in their enlightened minds just the opposite occurs when native Americans are considered to be one-half of a person and African Americans are seen as one-quarter of a person. Even with the adding of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Bill of Rights and the passage of the Equal Rights and Voting rights laws in the mid-1960's not much as changed when it comes to the rights of minority citizens in America.
Ever more nations have abandoned the barbaric death penalty. Perhaps, eventually, the 33 U.S. states still executing people will come around, too. But even in a nation where 1,301 individuals have been executed since 1976 and another 3,170 are in the queue, it is considered uncivilized to execute the mentally retarded.
Except in Texas.
Because in Texas, officialdumb likes executing people. Under Gov. Rick Perry, 244 individuals have been injected with lethal chemicals. And the mental condition of those executed makes no never mind to the guy signing the order, the criminal-injustice system assigning the sentence or the authorities carrying it out.
So, instead of following the clear spirit of the 6-3 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, Texas plans to stick the needle in Marvin Wilson's arm Tuesday. He has a certified IQ of 61. He has been on death row for 18 years for the 1992 slaying of Jerry Robert Williams.
Advocates hope the Supreme Court chooses to put a stay on Wilson's execution and review his case in light of Atkins.
Apparently still believing in the good faith behavior of the state courts despite all they have witnessed to the contrary, the six members of the Supreme Court majority in that 2001 case left it up to states to come up with a means of determining whether a convicted murderer is faking retardation.
Marvin Wilson has the mental development of the average first-grader. He sucked his thumb into adulthood; he cannot use a phone book; and he doesn’t understand what a bank account is. As a child he would sometimes clamp his belt so tightly that he would cut off blood circulation. He couldn’t figure out how to use simple toys such as tops and marbles, and he was tormented by other children, who called him names like “dummy” and “retard.”
The most shocking aspect of this case is that the state of Texas has never even bothered to present any evidence contesting the defense’s claim that Wilson is mentally retarded. The uncontested evidence—presented by a court-appointed neuropsychologist at a hearing conveyed for the purpose of determining Wilson’s mental capacity—is that Wilson has an IQ below the first percentile, and has trouble performing even the simplest tasks without help. In other words he easily meets the standard clinical definition of mental retardation, which the Supreme Court used as the basis of its [...] decision.
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