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| Supreme Court Blocks Texas Execution |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/13/2002 |
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A convicted murderer whose lawyers say he is mentally retarded won a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, 3 1/2 hours before he was scheduled to be executed. Last month, the nation's highest court halted two other executions after lawyers made similar claims. The court has been reviewing a Virginia case that challenges the constitutionality of executing the mentally retarded; a decision is expected at any time. Willie Modden, 54, was sentenced to die for stabbing to death a convenience store employee, 27-year-old Deborah Davenport, during a robbery. Modden's first conviction was overturned because jurors were not allowed to consider his claims of mental retardation when they decided his sentence. He was tried again in 1992, convicted and condemned. At that trial, jurors were told his IQ was 64; an IQ of 70 is considered the threshold for retardation. |
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