SCOTUS halts execution of Texas retard.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - SCOTUS halts execution of Texas retard.

Posted: 6/11/2002 10:22:29 PM EDT

[url=http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/11/execution.stopped.ap/index.html]Supreme Court blocks Texas execution[/url]

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A convicted murderer whose lawyers say he is mentally retarded won a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, 3 1/2 hours before he was scheduled to be executed.

Last month, the nation's highest court halted two other executions after lawyers made similar claims. The court has been reviewing a Virginia case that challenges the constitutionality of executing the mentally retarded; a decision is expected at any time.

Willie Modden, 54, was sentenced to die for stabbing to death a convenience store employee, 27-year-old Deborah Davenport, during a robbery.

Modden's first conviction was overturned because jurors were not allowed to consider his claims of mental retardation when they decided his sentence.

He was tried again in 1992, convicted and condemned. At that trial, jurors were told his IQ was 64; an IQ of 70 is considered the threshold for retardation.

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[b]QUESTION: Should "mentally retarded" murderers be executed? [/b]

Consider...
1) Isn't it the liberals who are forever saying that standardized tests (like IQ tests) are biased against minorities and are therefore INHERENTLY UNRELIABLE??

2) AND... if IQ tests really ARE biased against blacks (which is why, they say, blacks score lower than whites), then isn't using the IQ as a threshold for execution then BIASED against whites?

3) Isn't the cut-off of 70 arbitrary? Why not 71 or 72? Are IQ tests THAT precise to distinguish between a person with an IQ of 68 or 72???

4) Lastly, what do IQ tests have to do with "intent" to commit murder and "knowledge" of right and wrong which are the main issues involved in determining guilt (culpability)??

Posted: 6/11/2002 10:30:15 PM EDT

[#1]

This question is raised regularly by the Leftists working diligently to destroy this Country. After three seconds of deep reflection, my thought is that having a low I.Q. is all the more reason to execute, following a conviction for a heinous crime. Having a poor intellect is sad, but coupled with evil, makes execution the only logical solution. [kill]

Edit: I have never discussed this on the Board, but a Libertarian friend pointed out something that has troubled me greatly. He knows my political stand--right wing extremist--and he is not much different, but is rabidly anti-capital punishment. This doesn't square, until he explained it. We readily agree "da gubmint" pretty well f**ks up everything it touches. Look at ATF, INS, etc. But then we eagerly trust the same government with the taking of life. Hmmmmmmmmmm . . .

Posted: 6/11/2002 10:40:40 PM EDT

[#2]

So they can be the Heavyweight champion of the world, and convicted rapists, but not for first degree murders, eh? Well Mike Tyson has it made now.

Posted: 6/11/2002 10:41:37 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
We readily agree "da gubmint" pretty well f**ks up everything it touches. Look at ATF, INS, etc. But then we eagerly trust the same government with the taking of life. Hmmmmmmmmmm . . .

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Couple that with the fact that a man's life depends so much on the talent of his LAWYERS!!

Gov't bureacracy AND lawyers? [shock]

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - SCOTUS halts execution of Texas retard.

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