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AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
15 November 2000 - AI Index AMR 51/175/2000 - News Service Nr. 216
USA: Texas set to execute
mentally disabled man as
it heads for judicial killing record
Another chilling milestone in the ugly
history of US judicial killing is
looming, Amnesty International warned,
as it released a letter sent to
Governor George W. Bush yesterday.
The letter calls on him to prevent the
execution of a severely mentally disabled
man, due to be carried out in
Texas tomorrow evening.
"We are calling on Governor Bush to
act in accordance with his claim
to be a compassionate leader and in
line with his contention that
Texas has become a beacon state under
his governorship," Amnesty
International said.
John Paul Penry, who has an IQ of between
50 and 63 and the mind of a
7-year-old child, is scheduled for
lethal injection in Huntsville at
18:00 hours local time on 16 November.
He was convicted in 1980 of the
1979 murder of Pamela Moseley Carpenter.
In a landmark decision, the US Supreme
Court overturned John Penry's
death sentence in 1989, saying that
juries must be allowed to consider
mental retardation as a mitigating
factor, but that the execution of the
mentally retarded was not unconstitutional.
John Penry was resentenced
to death in 1990.
"While Texas has for two decades remained
fixed on its goal of killing
John Penry, the bigger picture has
changed," Amnesty International pointed
out to Governor Bush. "Since
Penry was first sentenced to death, 13 US
states have passed laws that would
make his execution illegal."
Furthermore, the overwhelming majority
of countries respect
international human rights standards
opposing the use of the death
penalty against mentally disabled defendants.
Amnesty International has reminded Governor
Bush that during
presidential campaigning he mistakenly
told reporters that Texas does not
execute the mentally retarded, and
the letter points out that several
such individuals have been put to death
in his state.
"The imminent execution of John Penry
provides Governor Bush with an
immediate opportunity to show that
in future he will stand against a
practice that flouts modern standards
of justice and decency," Amnesty
International said.
After a politically fortuitous lull
in executions in the 2 months
leading up to the 7 November presidential
election, the Texas execution
machine has begun to make up for lost
time. Stacey Lawton was executed
last night, and another prisoner, Tony
Chambers, is scheduled to be killed
tonight. If both he and John
Penry are executed, Texas will have put 38
prisoners to death this year, its highest
annual total since the USA
resumed executions in 1977.
"Texas has already executed more people
this year than most countries,"
Amnesty International said. "What is
more, in the past 3 years it has put
more prisoners to death -- 91 -- than
any other US state has executed in
over 2 decades of judicial killing."
In his inaugural address on 17 January
1995, Governor Bush stated that
his aim was to make Texas a "beacon
state", an objective he says has been
achieved. John Penry is
scheduled to become the 150th prisoner executed
in Texas since Governor Bush took office.
"This is hardly the record of a state
setting a shining example,"
Amnesty International said. "One
must ask whether pariah, rather than
beacon, would be a more suitable label."
Background
Texas continues to violate international
human rights standards in its
pursuit of judicial killing.
In some instances, Governor Bush has
opposed attempts by Texas legislators
to improve the situation, such as
raising the levels of legal representation
for poor defendants, and
prohibiting the use of the death penalty
against the mentally retarded.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
yesterday rejected clemency for
John Penry, leaving Governor Bush with
the option of granting a 30-day
reprieve. Amnesty International believes
that he should do so, and ask
the Board to reconsider its decision.
John Penry's only other hope lies
with the US Supreme Court. In
1988, the Court stopped Penry's execution
13 hours before it was due to be carried
out.
For more information please call Amnesty
International's press office in
London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or
visit our website at
http://www.amnesty.org.
A 12-page report on the John Penry case, written
last year when John Penry was last
facing execution, is available on this
website: USA: Beyond Reason:
The imminent execution of John Paul Penry, AI
Index: AMR 51/195/99, December 1999
(source: Amnesty International)
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