Texas To Execute Mentally Impaired Man

[RedStar]

If 54-year-old Marvin Wilson is put to death on Tuesday, it will not be because Texas denies that he is intellectually disabled, or as the legal literature puts it, “mentally retarded.” This much, the state recognizes. It just does not believe that Wilson is disabled enough not to be executed in Texas—a flagrant violation of the 2002 Supreme Court ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, which held that “the mentally retarded should be categorically excluded from execution,” period.

Thus, barring a last-minute intervention, a man who has been diagnosed with an IQ of 61 and who sucked his thumb well into adulthood now faces the prospect of being strapped to a gurney and injected with lethal chemicals until he is pronounced dead. “It doesn’t usually get to this point when you have an Atkins claim this strong,” his lawyer, Lee Kovarsky, told me over the phone on Sunday. “This claim is really sort of the worst of the worst.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169243...ute-man-iq-61#

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Americans, your country is backwards.
And hey, I don't really have a moral problem with the death penalty, but a mentally handicapped man? Seriously?

[KilljoyKlown]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169243...ute-man-iq-61#

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Americans, your country is backwards.
And hey, I don't really have a moral problem with the death penalty, but a mentally handicapped man? Seriously?

Come on RedStar, Texans think they are better than the rest of the country. You can't hold us all responsible for what they do. I actually had to live in that state for 8 years and that was enough for me, I'll never go there again not even for a short visit.

[Asguard]

Hey if we have to accept Queensland and the shit that comes out of there (Pauline Hanson, Bob Katter etc) then you have to accept Texas

What I don't understand is why your supreme court hasn't slapped this down

[KilljoyKlown]

Hey if we have to accept Queensland and the shit that comes out of there (Pauline Hanson, Bob Katter etc) then you have to accept Texas

What I don't understand is why your supreme court hasn't slapped this down

Damned if I know! But they still might, better late than never right? Texas is primarily a Baptist state and I think many of them are creationist, so what can you expect from them? The standing joke about Texans is that only steers and queers live there and if you live there which one are you? (That was bad but a Texan told it to me).

[Crunchy Cat]

At least it wasn't a loss to society, but it does appear to be a violation of the law.

[kx000]

He can be faking, then again he may not know what the hell he is doing.

Just put a black bag over his head, throw him in the truck, don't say a word, and let the human mind do the rest. No need to execute anyone.

[Tiassa]

What I don't understand is why your supreme court hasn't slapped this down

Due process is often incredibly slow.

In the end, though—

The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Scalia and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.

(SCotUS)

—justice, on the Supreme Court, stops at Antonin Scalia's desk.

We should not be surprised at this. As much as we might say, "It's Texas", we can also simply say, "It's Scalia". He's the bloodthirsty one; has been for a long time.

Hell, he got to send a retarded black man to his death. In what dimension do we imagine Justice Scalia would pass up that opportunity?
____________________

Notes:

Supreme Court of the United States. "Certiorari Denied". Wilson v. Thaler. August 7, 2012. SupremeCourt.gov. August 7, 2012. http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/c...s/080712zr.pdf

[Buddha12]

Wilson was convicted for the 1992 kidnapping and killing of a police informant named Jerry Williams, who had accused him of dealing cocaine. According to court filings, �eyewitnesses saw two men�Mr. Wilson and his accomplice, Andrew Lewis�attack Mr. Williams at Mike�s Grocery store in Beaumont, Texas.�

So he was found guilty by a jury who heard all of the evidence against him. After the jury decided by the evidence that this mentally handicappeded man actually did commit a murder in the first degree, which means he thought about killing the victim before he actually did, the jury gave him the death sentence. I'd think the victim didn't have any chance at all and think that the victim was murdered in cold blood by this man who knew how to kill but didn't know how to get away with murder.

I can't second guess the jury for they saw the evidence not me and they made their own minds up as to what the penalty should be. Since no one here knows much about this case except what you are now being told by the news media, who really only want to stir the pot, do you trust the jury more or what your fed by the news media? If you say the news media then you are not as thoughtful of people as I once believed you to be.

[Fraggle Rocker]

Americans, your country is backwards.

Every country has its pros and cons. Every American, even a criminal, has a much larger probability of being killed in an auto accident than by execution.

And hey, I don't really have a moral problem with the death penalty, but a mentally handicapped man?

Well I do have a problem with it. Once you decide that there are certain situations in which it truly is okay to kill another human being for any reason except self-defense, the rest is just details. Then you start deciding which situations those are.

Our entire "justice" system is skewed toward the persecution of Afro-Americans. For example, a black drug user is eight times as likely to end up in prison as a white one, with all other variables equal. If this were a mentally retarded white man, he'd probably be in a hospital instead of a prison.

Come on RedStar, Texans think they are better than the rest of the country. You can't hold us all responsible for what they do. I actually had to live in that state for 8 years and that was enough for me, I'll never go there again not even for a short visit.

I'll never forgive President Grant for taking the South back. They've been nothing but trouble, Texas in particular. Who in their right mind wanted a state that had already seceded from two countries?

The only reason Texas petitioned to join the United States after seceding from Mexico was that during the ten years it was an independent country, they could find no one with the skill to run a country.

The place hasn't changed at all.

[quadraphonics]

The standing joke about Texans is that only steers and queers live there and if you live there which one are you? (That was bad but a Texan told it to me).

The standard phrasing of that quip is something like "Only steers and queers come from Texas, and you ain't got no horns boy!"

Or, the classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyFSdj1J5Vw

[RedStar]

Well I do have a problem with it. Once you decide that there are certain situations in which it truly is okay to kill another human being for any reason except self-defense, the rest is just details. Then you start deciding which situations those are.

The way I see it, there's no real principled difference between incarcerating somebody for life, or even having the power to incarcerate anybody at all...........and executing somebody. I mean, if the state has the power to punish, then it has the power to punish. The rest is just details. My opposition to the death penalty, therefore, is not moral, but logistical.

Our entire "justice" system is skewed toward the persecution of Afro-Americans. For example, a black drug user is eight times as likely to end up in prison as a white one, with all other variables equal. If this were a mentally retarded white man, he'd probably be in a hospital instead of a prison.

Well, I agree with you on this one.

[Buddha12]

The way I see it, there's no real principled difference between incarcerating somebody for life, or even having the power to incarcerate anybody at all...........and executing somebody. I mean, if the state has the power to punish, then it has the power to punish. The rest is just details. My opposition to the death penalty, therefore, is not moral, but logistical.

I do, I see a big difference.

We taxpayers must provide over 50,000.00 a year to keep a murderer in a cell. That's money that could be used for education, medical needs, helping the poor and on and on. Every dollar spent on a murderer staying alive is a slap in the face to the taxpayers who must keep them alive.

[RedStar]

I do, I see a big difference.

We taxpayers must provide over 50,000.00 a year to keep a murderer in a cell. That's money that could be used for education, medical needs, helping the poor and on and on. Every dollar spent on a murderer staying alive is a slap in the face to the taxpayers who must keep them alive.

I said a principled difference.

[KilljoyKlown]

The standard phrasing of that quip is something like "Only steers and queers come from Texas, and you ain't got no horns boy!"

Or, the classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyFSdj1J5Vw

Yeah! Something like that

Survivor, Texas Style

Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, Texas is planning to do its own, entitled Survivor - Texas Style. The contestants will start in Dallas, travel to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, over to Houston and down to Brownsville. They will then proceed up to Del Rio, on to El Paso, then to Midland, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo. From there, they'll proceed to Abilene, Ft. Worth and finally back to Dallas.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo with bumper stickers that read, "I'm gay", "I'm a vegetarian", "I voted for Al Gore", "George Strait Sucks", "Hillary in 2008", and "I'm here to confiscate your guns!" The first one to make it back to Dallas alive wins.

[Saturnine Pariah]

3934941+_a417683e7ae31a99d18b872373610457.jpg

Yeah! Something like that

Survivor, Texas Style

Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, Texas is planning to do its own, entitled Survivor - Texas Style. The contestants will start in Dallas, travel to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, over to Houston and down to Brownsville. They will then proceed up to Del Rio, on to El Paso, then to Midland, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo. From there, they'll proceed to Abilene, Ft. Worth and finally back to Dallas.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo with bumper stickers that read, "I'm gay", "I'm a vegetarian", "I voted for Al Gore", "George Strait Sucks", "Hillary in 2008", and "I'm here to confiscate your guns!" The first one to make it back to Dallas alive wins.

Brilliant...Just Fucking Brilliant.

[Buddha12]

I said a principled difference.

Well your principle is that keeping them alive is the same as death and that makes no sense at all to me. If a person knowingly kills another in cold blood why , in principle, should they be allowed to survive when those they murdered are dead? To allow for such an injustice for the victims family to see the person who killed their family member alive and still be able to do things even in jail is a slap in their faces, to me, and that is why I don't see your viewpoint at all.

[KilljoyKlown]

Well your principle is that keeping them alive is the same as death and that makes no sense at all to me. If a person knowingly kills another in cold blood why , in principle, should they be allowed to survive when those they murdered are dead? To allow for such an injustice for the victims family to see the person who killed their family member alive and still be able to do things even in jail is a slap in their faces, to me, and that is why I don't see your viewpoint at all.

Texas and maybe Florida are the only states where sentencing someone to death doesn't cost more than life in prison. In many states 10 years or more on death row is common, then add in the staggering legal expenses and you are way over the cost of keeping someone in prison for life. Also, since when is the state in business to provide revenge for families of the victims? While the death of the convicted might provide some comfort to the family members, it's the end of problems for the guilty party. I think it's more appropriate to give the guilty a very much less than satisfying rest of his/her life. In any event, you might be saving a wrongly convicted human being from an early death.