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| Texan Gets Execution Stay for Retardation Appeal |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 04/17/2003 |
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A U.S. appeals court granted a last-minute stay of execution to a Texas inmate whose lawyers had argued is mentally retarded. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted Kenneth Wayne Morris a stay about two hours before he was due to die by lethal injection for a 1991 burglary and murder in Houston. In a five-page decision, the court granted Morris another opportunity to have a lower federal court review evidence that he is mentally retarded. The stay is in effect until the lower court rules otherwise. The 5th Circuit decision reflects a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last year that bans the execution of mentally retarded inmates. Lawyers for Morris argued that his school records show him to be retarded, and his family claimed he was unable to read and write during his youth. They also argued that there was no IQ test to determine conclusively whether he is retarded. Prosecutors argued that a psychologist who examined Morris and testified at his trial did not find him to be retarded. The psychologist never tested for retardation. Morris, 32, was convicted of shooting to death 63-year-old James Moody Adams during a May 1, 1991, burglary. He would have been the 13th inmate to be executed this year in Texas, the most active death penalty state in the U.S. |
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