Marvin Wilson Execution: Texas Puts Man With 61 IQ To Death
Source: Huffington Post
NEW YORK -- Texas authorities executed Marvin Wilson, a 54-year-old death row inmate, on Tuesday night after his attorneys failed to convince state and federal courts that he was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 Supreme Court ruling.
Wilson was declared dead at 6:27 p.m. local time. He cried out to his gathered family members as he expired, Texas officials said.
"Give mom a hug for me and tell her that I love her," Wilson said.
The Supreme Court late in the afternoon rejected without comment a last-ditch appeal by Wilson's lawyers, clearing the way for his death by lethal injection. The appeal cited a 2004 psychological exam that pegged Wilson's IQ at just 61. The Texas benchmark for mental retardation is an IQ of about 70 or less.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/marvin-wilson-execution-texas_n_1753968.html
Texas what the hell is wrong with you?
My God what is happening to this country.
Looking more like Hitler's Germany everyday - any excuse to kill those who are not "auserwyhlt [chosen]"
aquart
(69,014 posts)Go talk to them.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)LBN Statement of Purpose
Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.
Thank you.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)from the party that believes in torture as official state policy.
Skittles
(152,966 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)It is worse than just one man not caring - they only needed four votes to stop the execution.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)hollysmom
(5,946 posts)I think the saddest one was the guy who ate his last meal, but saved the ice cream for after the execution. I think his IQ was realllllly low.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)Bill Clinton. You just had to show how "tough" you were on crime. Amy Goodman served you personally on Democracy Now for it, but way too late to help Mr. Rector.
indepat
(20,899 posts)soft on terra, or weak on national defense by a pub. That's the compelling reason the far right wing can set a national agenda that is extremely harmful to the nation and most of its inhabitants. If only Dems would man up and not be such fraidy cats.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)fleur-de-lisa
(14,615 posts)I-R-O-N-Y !!!
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)maybe Rick Perry passed him, he was governor for longer though.
Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)7 August 2012 Last updated at 23:52 ET
Texas executes 'mentally impaired' convict
convicted death-row inmate has been executed in Texas after the US Supreme Court rejected arguments that he was mentally impaired.
Marvin Wilson, 54, was pronounced dead on Tuesday evening after receiving a lethal injection, officials said.
His lawyers had argued that he should have been ineligible for the death penalty because of his low IQ.
In 2002, the Supreme Court outlawed the execution of people with mental impairments.
However, the court left it to individual states to define what this meant.
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19174770
What a hideous shame.
Spirochete
(5,264 posts)you can be executed. Since G W Bush was elected governor, one would have to be a shoehorn or cheese to be ineligible for execution.
And Perry makes him look like Stephen Hawking in comparison.
Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)[center]
"Reading" Lynne Cheney's history book together. Poor, poor kids.[/center]
Moltisanti
(33 posts)coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)need to explain yourself more fully, lest you be accused of hate speech towards the intellectually disabled (pka "mentally retarded" . You have 1 hour to respond before I alert our monitors on you.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)would help eliminate that problem. Psychological tests are designed to address and account for gaming of the system.
The point here is that Texas uses a standard that no other state uses--it is based on the character of Lennie Smalls. If that does not indicate to you a problem, then I will assume you are not well-read.
ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)At Wed Aug 8, 2012, 12:48 PM an alert was sent on the following post:
what was his motivation to get above 70 on the IQ test they gave him? n/t
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=187780
REASON FOR ALERT:
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)
ALERTER'S COMMENTS:
I think this post verges on hate speech toward the intellectually disabled in its insinuation (as well as slander towards the field of psychometrics) that the person in question who was executed had somehow 'cheated' on the IQ test. This post is certainly unseemly and deserve a high level of scrutiny from DU.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Aug 8, 2012, 12:59 PM, and the Jury voted 1-5 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT and said: MIRT ought to be looking at this poster as well.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I'm seeing doofus-speak, not hate speak.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Actually the post seems to insinuate that he was less disabled than the news story states. Maybe that is not a real attractive comment either, but I was more jarred by the posted threat to alert.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Wilson in fact did score higher on previous tests. The poster asks a legitimate question.
Leave the post.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)accept DU's verdict to let the post stand. Jurors #4 and #5 make convincing arguments for letting it stand.
Thanks, though, to Juror #1. At least I know I wasn't completely out to lunch.
ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)me as really low to be attacking someone who was newly dead at the hands of the state.
When I taught English Composition many years ago, I never allowed my students to write about capital punishment or abortion for their papers, because of my desire to avoid the potential for instructor conflicts of interest in grading said papers.
ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)They're sick.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Two hours after alerting and still no change. DU- what the hell is wrong with YOU?
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 8, 2012, 02:12 PM - Edit history (1)
The thread title should be the same as the article - not an editorial comment.
On edit:
Unlocking at the OP's request, so the title can be changed.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)shagnasty
(21 posts)This is what happens in a society where members are not allowed to promulgate their species outside the family.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 8, 2012, 04:18 PM - Edit history (1)
Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)Perhaps promulgate was supposed to be procreate? As to the use of species, I believe the poster may not know the actual meaning of the word?
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,444 posts)The question always remains, would this man have been given more compassion had he been white?
Texas and the entire south has a long history of unfairly prosecuting blacks.
I'm surprised the NAACP or some other civil rights group didn't get this into the national discourse before he was executed.