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| California Death-Row inmate's Appeal Claims He is Retarded |
| By Bakersfield Californian |
| Published: 12/23/2002 |
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A new ban on the execution of mentally retarded people is being used to appeal the 1993 conviction of a Delano man who sodomized a toddler to death, according to a legal journal. Attorneys claim Vicente Figueroa Benavides has the mental abilities of a child not yet 71/2 and couldn't understand his trial or aid his defense, the Los Angeles Daily Journal has reported. The lawyers want the California Supreme Court to set aside both his death sentence and conviction, the journal said. Benavides' attorneys at the state Habeas Corpus Resource Center reportedly are citing a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that executing the mentally retarded violates Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The lawyers have failed to return multiple phone calls about the case over the last two weeks. Benavides was convicted in Kern County Superior Court of sexually assaulting, shaking and squeezing to death 21-month-old Consuelo Verdugo, the daughter of his then-girlfriend. Benavides' mental competence was not raised at trial, former Deputy District Attorney Robert Carbone, who prosecuted Benavides, confirmed. Carbone, now a defense attorney, said he spent a lot of time with Benavides and saw no evidence and heard no claim he was mentally retarded. 'My personal observation of Mr. Benavides is that he's a sadistic ... and not mentally retarded,' Carbone said. Asked about the Supreme Court ban on executing the mentally retarded, Carbone complained judges are 'carving out' too many exceptions to who should be executed. In its June decision, the Supreme Court reversed a 13-year precedent and the death sentence of a convicted murderer in Virginia, who had an IQ of 50. The ruling forced 20 states to end executions of the mentally retarded. Eighteen already had prohibited it; 12 states had outlawed capital punishment. The court let the states define retardation. It's generally characterized as an IQ of less than 70. Benavides had an IQ of about 72, the journal quoted his appeal as saying. The appeal also reportedly said Benavides' retardation in part stemmed from severe emotional and physical trauma since birth. His lawyers also claimed Benavides' court interpreter was incompetent and that, too, kept him from understanding his legal proceedings. The attorneys also criticized the prosecution's pathologist, calling him incompetent and unprofessional. Carbone said the contract pathologist had a 'good working knowledge' of pathology and that the nature of the injuries and cause of death were easy to determine anyway. 'There wasn't a lot of trick to the case,' Carbone said. The California Attorney General's office has about another month to file a response to the habeas corpus petition. |
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It would be nice to see how this story has changed over the years. I enjoyed reading more about our prison system on this website. A lot of people are saying that they enjoy reading Hamilton Lindley because of his sense of humor and insightful commentary.