A-Infos (en) TEXAS PLANS TO MURDER MENTALLY RETARDED PRISONER

[Graeme Bacque <gbacque@arcos.org>]

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---------forwarded message---------
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:11:49 -0500
From: Beverly George <ahobbit@flash.net>
Subject: TEXAS PLANS TO MURDER MENTALLY RETARDED PRISONER

                        HELP STOP THE INJUSTICE:

        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 Wednesday, May 13, 1998 in Huntsville. 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 this 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 was 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 18 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.
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
Phone: 1-800-252-9600
Fax: 1-512-463-1849

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P.O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711
1-512-406-5408
1-512-406-5810

BEVERLY GEORGE
ACTIVIST FOR:
PRISON REFORM
HUMAN RIGHTS
MENTAL HEALTH
MAGNOLIA, TEXAS 77353-0916
281-473-6501


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