Courtesy of Steve Hall from Stand Down Texas, we learn that John Penry, a mentally retarded person on Texas' death row, will not spend his life in prison instead of facing execution.
For those who have followed Penry's case up and down the courts -- including two successful Supreme Court rulings -- this is big and welcome news indeed. It means Texas is no longer actively trying to execute a person who believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, colors with crayons and looks at comic books he can't read. Of course, executing people with severe mental retardation runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court edict that such executions violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
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