Texas's execution of a mentally retarded individual was a monstrous act.

[Puregonzo1188]

Less than a day after I published on this blog a piece dedicated to exposing and examining the systematic cruelty in America’s prison system the state of Texas went through with an act that confirmed what I had written in the worst possible way. I can think of very few words, other than monstrous, barbaric, disgusting, and sick, to describe the state of Texas’s decision to kill a mentally retarded man, Marvin Wilson, and even they seem to fall short of describing the full weight of the situation. While the Supreme Court has barred the practice of killing a mentally retarded person it has left the definition of “mental retardation” up to each individual state. Texas, where 3 out ever 4 American executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence in 1976 have taken place, has essentially gone about rewriting the definition for the sole perhaps of executions. Proof of this can be found in the Texas Court of Appeals own phrasing of the question

Does a consensus of Texas citizens agree that all persons who might legitimately qualify for assistance under the social services definition of mental retardation be exempt from an otherwise constitutional penalty?

Thus Texas is ignoring any clinical or social services definition for mental retardation, definitions that may be used for government purposes in the state, in order to kill as many people as possible. This is why in eschewing the clinical they resort to crude stereotypes, such as the fictional character Lennie from John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, which the Texas Court of Appeals cited to justify killing a man with an IQ of just 61.

What is perhaps more disturbing than Texas’s decision to fly in the face of the Supreme Court’s prohibition on killing the mentally retarded is that a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court allowed this to happen. Given the horror story after horror story that has come out of the Texas judiciary I expect as little of them as I would the worst of kangaroo courts in the most authoritarian nations. However, the Supreme Court, which I have generally little esteem for, clearly barred the killing of the mentally retarded. And while they left the responsibility for defining mental retardation to the state Texas’s own definition is no definition at all and merely a not so subtle attempt to contravene the ban on killing mentally retarded individuals.

While state-sponsored killing is always a deplorable act, it is made more sickening by the fact that the state of Texas murdered someone who essentially had the intellectual capabilities of a child. To make matters worse the only evidence that Wilson was responsible for the murder of a drug informant came from the wife of his accomplice who claimed that Wilson, not her husband, had actually done the killing. Since that time Wilson’s lawyers had uncovered evidence that cast doubts onto whether or not Wilson was even present at the scene of the crime.

More at link http://exitingemerald.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-monstrous-act.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I abhore the death penalty for anyone.

Not as much for the offender as for what it does to the society that condones it.

[Puregonzo1188]

2. I do as well, but what happened in Texas was especially atrocious.

[99Forever]

4. Agreed.

As a society, we are less because it happens. I can't help but think it's part of what has cheapened our value of all things life, in this Nation.

[patrice]

3. Capital Punishment is the negation of Justice.

Justice, and btw a much more severe punishment if that's what victim's families want, would be life in prison without parole.

[Smilo]

5. I just don't understand the blood lust

in this country - kill everything except a cluster of cells.

The rest of the world looks at us in puzzlement.

I do offer my sincere condolences to Mr. Wilson's family and hope that somehow they can find peace.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. We aren't interested in justice or rehabilitation in this country.

Our system is all about punishment and revenge.

[dballance]

6. Ann Richards was the last TX governor of any intelligence or substance

Since Ms. Richards the people of TX elected G "W" Bush and Rick Perry.

W. of course went on to become President and invade a country for no real reason. Then he had the audacity to make fun of the fact we, the US, did not find weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons in that country in a video for the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Perhaps Chicken Hawk should have been on the menu at that dinner.

Rick Perry obviously can't remember more than two things at once. He's not even as bright as Sarah Palin to write it on his hand.

When someone has to go to "OOPs" I can't recall in a Presidential debate that person is pretty much done.

So people of the USA please stop electing the idiots from TX that its citizens must be delighted to get rid of.

[chervilant]

10. Let's not forget DeLay.

He has a severe case of TDS, and did a lot of damage to the state's politics with his 'redistricting' to insure a Republican majority.

[dballance]

13. Yes, you are right

Delay has done much to make all my wonderful friends in TX feel embarrassed he is a part of TX history.

[Starry Messenger]

7. recommend.

[chknltl]

8. Agreed.

D.P. needs to be abolished.

[canuckledragger]

9. Perhaps a thorough investigation into the Texas prison system is needed?

I mean, an especially intense investigation at the federal level, investigating the for profit prison industry there?

& all the relationships involved, business, courts, government & so on.

It could start as a simple audit & see what it leads to from there.

I have faith the sheer number of executions & the convictions leading to them can't be just out of plain bloodthirstiness & indifference from the voting public.

my cynical side says there's always a profit motive involved..

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. "the convictions leading to them can't be just out of plain bloodthirstiness"

Are you kidding? You could make a fortune in Texas selling pay-per-view of an execution. They wouldn't even care about the crime.

[coalition_unwilling]

11. Emphatic K&R. Scalia refused the stay. No surprise, since Scalia comes

from a party that endorses the use of torture as official state policy.

[young_at_heart]

12. Gov. Perry---Texas has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times.

Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?

No, sir. I’ve never struggled with that at all.

Audience applause bracketed the exchange---- rousing audience cheers for an aggressively applied death penalty.

[NCDem60]

14. Remember that this is Texas

Texas is different. Obviously they must feel if 61 is a high enough IQ to be governor it is high enough for someone to be responsible for their actions.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. Nicely put.

[King_Klonopin]

18. Hardened Hearts

To put it in Biblical terms, these people have "hardened their hearts" to God.

Blood lust for revenge, guilty until proven innocent, bearing false witness (see Romney, Mitt),
the war on poor people, disdain for mercy and charity, hate thy neighbor, etc. --
are not exactly Christian.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. If you're going to drag religion into it - Let's bring in the expert...

[King_Klonopin]

20. Carlin is awesome. He despised hypocrisy... and nailing religion to the natives' feet.

"I am an anarchist... I am an antichrist !!"

The Pharisses were oblivious to being "Pharisees".