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| Third Hearing Set for Mentally Retarded Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/30/2002 |
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Despite two murder trials, two Supreme Court reversals and countless hearings, Ellen May's nightmare continues. May and her family have been caught in the middle of a more than two-decade-old debate over capital punishment and whether mentally retarded people should be sentenced to death. Johnny Paul Penry, 45, has spent half his life locked up for raping and killing May's aunt, Pamela Moseley Carpenter, at her home in Livingston, Texas. Penry's lawyers claim he shouldn't be put to death because he has the thinking abilities of about a second-grader. Jury selection was set to begin Monday in Penry's third sentencing hearing. The panel must decide whether he deserves life in prison or lethal injection. 'At this point, I can't even see an end, I just can't,' said May, whose aunt was attacked in her home on Oct. 25, 1979. 'Even if he gets a death penalty, we've still got years of appeals.' Twice Penry has been sentenced to death and twice his sentence has been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, most recently last year. In its latest ruling in his case, however, the high court let his murder conviction stand, meaning jurors who were to begin assembling Monday will be considering testimony on only what punishment should be handed down. Earlier this month, a jury found Penry competent to stand trial despite arguments from defense lawyers that his IQ is below 70, the threshold for mental retardation, and that he could not function in society. The Texas Legislature last year approved a bill that would have added Texas to the 18 states that prohibit executions of mentally retarded people. The measure, however, was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry. The Supreme Court is expected to rule by June in a Virginia case that questions the constitutionality of executing the mentally retarded. Penry was convicted and condemned for Carpenter's murder in 1980. The Supreme Court in 1989 ruled that jury instruction language used in the trial was improper and threw out his conviction. He was retried a year later, convicted and condemned a second time only to have the Supreme Court throw out his sentence - again citing improper jury instruction language - and setting the stage for the latest trial. 'We know even if he's given a death penalty a third time, we know we still have a long road ahead of us,' said May. 'I've got my defenses up. I know when they say: 'We sentence him to death,' that's not it. It's not over.' |
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