Dallas couple's killer gets stay of execution - mental retardation claim

Associated Press ^ | May 30, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Dallas couple's killer gets stay of execution

05/30/2003

Associated Press

HOUSTON – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday granted a stay of execution based on a mental retardation claim by a death row inmate who was convicted of fatally stabbing a Dallas civil rights lawyer and his wife in 1986.

Kenneth Dwayne Thomas, 42, was set for lethal injection June 18 for the burglary and killing of Fred Finch and his wife, Mildred.

The appeals court Thursday sent Mr. Thomas' case back to a Dallas trial court, where the inmate's mental retardation claims are to be considered. During his trial for the death of Ms. Finch, defense attorneys presented evidence that Mr. Thomas was born with brain damage.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals eventually reversed Mr. Thomas' capital murder conviction in the killing of Mr. Finch, but in 1994 affirmed the conviction for the burglary and slaying of Ms. Finch.

Police said Mr. Thomas killed the couple in order to steal clothes from Mr. Finch. Mr. Thomas was arrested after the stabbings when his relatives spotted him wearing a Rolex watch and clothes bearing Mr. Finch's monogram.

Mr. Finch, a Harvard law graduate and leader in Dallas' black community, helped integrate Arlington State College, which is now the University of Texas at Arlington. He also founded two newspapers aimed at the black community. His wife was a longtime mathematics professor at El Centro College.

Mr. Thomas' attorney says test results show he has an IQ of between 70 and 75. An IQ of 70 is the generally accepted standard for retardation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that it was unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded killers, causing attorneys for many death row inmates to file claims that their clients fall into the category.

Mr. Thomas' sentence automatically would become life in prison if the courts determine he is retarded.

Prosecutors could not be reached for comment Thursday.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/053003dnmetstay.bfc0d.html

[MeekOneGOP]

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Billy_bob_bob]

So he's retarded. Fine. Strap him in the chair and tell him its a ride. WHEEEEEE!

Thanks to Bobby Slayton for that line.

[gathersnomoss]

Why not give him a ride to the victim's relatives house. They can handle the dirty work if the state won't fulfill their duty.

[Laura Earl]

That is cold, but one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. :D

[Conspiracy Guy]

You sir are a hoot. I salute you SAAAAHAAAAHLUTE

[cake_crumb]

"Mr. Thomas' attorney says test results show he has an IQ of between 70 and 75. An IQ of 70 is the generally accepted standard for retardation"

He was smart enough to break into their house to burglarize and kill them.

So much for the anti-execution/pro-abortion nuts' claim that the US executes retarded people....

[netmilsmom]

Come on, even my three year old knows it's wrong to stab someone.

[Tacis]

If these crafty killers had murdered white people they would have been quickly dispatched (well, not Cuba quick, but as fast as can be done, here) but, since they only killed black folks, they deserve the lightest punishment available.

[MeekOneGOP]

I like to post this story on threads like this:

Knowing Right from Wrong
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2001-03-08/feature.html/1/index.html

Excerpt from this John Paul Penry article:

While Penry made sure no one was coming, Carpenter grabbed the pair of orange-handled scissors she had been using to make Halloween decorations and stabbed them into Penry's back. Penry then knocked the scissors out of her hand and pushed her to the floor. While she was on her way down, Penry whacked Carpenter's head on the stove. As she lay on the kitchen floor, Penry then stomped her with his work boots.

"We verified that later, because she had a perfect heel print on her side where he'd stomped her while she was on her stomach. It ruptured her kidney, and that's what actually killed her."

But Carpenter wasn't dead yet, nor was Penry through. After stomping her, he got down on the floor and raped her.

"Then he got up and went across the room and picked up those damn scissors," says Price. "Came back, sat down on her stomach and said, 'I'm sorry, but I've got to do this.' Said something about he couldn't have her squealing on him. And then he buried the scissors in her chest." That act, says Price, was a clear indication that Penry knew he had done something wrong and that he was in big trouble.

Even then, the notoriously strong-willed Carpenter refused to die.

"He thought that would kill her instantly," says Price, "but she reached up and pulled the goddamn scissors out. When she did that, it scared him and he jumped up and ran out of the house."

Carpenter managed to pull herself across the room to the telephone. First she called a friend, and then an ambulance. At the hospital, emergency room doctors were aware of only the stab wound. They mended the hole in Carpenter's chest and thought they had her stabilized. But when a catheter was inserted, her damaged kidney began hemorrhaging. Pam Carpenter immediately went into shock and died.

[jimt]

During his trial for the death of Ms. Finch, defense attorneys presented evidence that Mr. Thomas was born with brain damage.

Who cares? It has no effect on the outcome for his victims. Why should it have an effect on his punishment?

[Conspiracy Guy]

I guess that is why I found Billy Bob Bob's reply to the post so funny. This right and wrong thing has gone too far. If an someone who is retarded can break into a house and kill rape or whatever they decide to do they can die for doing it. If that is not the case then all RETARDED people need to be institutionalized. I believe if you are free to live in a society you must be accountable for your actions PERIOD

[cabbieguy]

Wait just a minute here, he murdered a civil rights attorney, and a professor, he sounds like the most sane person in Texas.

[T. Jefferson]

Mr. Thomas' attorney says test results show he has an IQ of between 70 and 75. An IQ of 70 is the generally accepted standard for retardation.

The average black IQ is 82, by logic this means roughly 1/3 are borderline retarded, 1/3 are around 82, 1/3 are brighter than 82. This law could empty prisons across the country.

[MeekOneGOP]

Hear hear !!

[cake_crumb]

I THINK I remember that case....after a long fight by his attorneys, he wound up getting the death penalty anyway, didn't he?

[cake_crumb]

"The average black IQ is 82..."

Source of statistic. Yesterday, please.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yes, he got the death penalty, but it was never carried out.

He's still on Texas Death Row.

[cake_crumb]

D@mn. Too many death row inmates die of old age due to the hateful tactics of the 'sensitive' left. This guy needs to die. I'm amazed that the left can argue out of one side of their mouth that the taking of any life is reprehensible...while using gestapo tactics to promote abortion. Did Mosely have a right to choose that Penry did with HER body?

[MeekOneGOP]

Reprehensible alright . . .