A men­tal­ly retard­ed man in Texas accept­ed a life sen­tence for a mur­der that occurred over 28 years ago. Johnny Paul Penry was orig­i­nal­ly sen­tenced to death for the sex­u­al assault and mur­der of Pamela Mosley Carpenter, a rel­a­tive of a pro­fes­sion­al foot­ball star. Penry’s death sen­tence was over­turned twice by the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to the plea agree­ment on February 15, 2008, the pros­e­cu­tion was insist­ing on a fourth cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing hear­ing for Penry.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that although the exe­cu­tion of the men­tal­ly retard­ed was not con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly banned, the law in Texas did not give men­tal­ly retard­ed defen­dants suf­fi­cient pro­tec­tion to ensure that their dis­abil­i­ty was con­sid­ered as a mit­i­gat­ing fac­tor (Penry v. Lynaugh). Penry was again sen­tenced to death and again the sen­tence was over­turned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 (Penry v. Johnson). In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia held that the exe­cu­tion of defen­dants with men­tal retar­da­tion was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. Nevertheless, Texas con­tin­ued to seek a death sen­tence for Penry, whose IQ has been mea­sured between 50 and 63, well into the men­tal retar­da­tion range. In 2005, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals over­turned Penry’s lat­est death sentence.

(Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2008; also DPIC Sources). See Mental Retardation and Supreme Court.

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