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| Retardation Diagnosis Could Spare Inmate |
| By The Houston Chronicle |
| Published: 02/20/2006 |
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A Texas inmate from Harris County could see his death sentence commuted to life in prison, thanks to a psychologist's opinion that he is mentally retarded. But before that finding goes to a judge, the people who hired the psychologist Harris County prosecutors want him to look at additional information, apparently including the observations of death row guards. Assistant District Attorney Lynn Hardaway says she doesn't recall for sure but believes the guards' input was included in the material she sent to George Denkowski, who concluded that Michael Wayne Richard is retarded. That tactic, and memory lapse, have raised the ire and suspicion of Richard's lawyer. "There are shenanigans going on here," said attorney Les Ribnik. "The state gets a report it doesn't like, and they then bring influence to bear on (the psychologist) to reconsider." But Hardaway sees nothing improper with asking Denkowski, a Fort Worth psychologist, to give the case a second look. "I'm not an expert on the issue, but I do have some questions about whether he's retarded," she said. Richard, a two-time parolee, was sentenced to die in 1986 for the murder of 53-year-old nurse Marguerite Lucille Dixon during a break-in at her northwest Harris County home. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a new trial, Richard was again convicted and sentenced to death in 1995. However, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2002 that the execution of mentally retarded killers would violate the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Since then, 47 of the 445 inmates on Texas' death row at that time, including Richard, have filed appeals based on the retardation issue, according to the Texas Defenders Service, which provides legal counsel for death row inmates. |
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