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WASHINGTON, June 20 — A divided Supreme Court reversed itself Thursday and ruled that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutionally cruel — a decision that reflects changes in public attitudes on the issue since the court declared such executions constitutional in 1989. THE 6-3 RULING is confined to mentally retarded killers, and does not address the constitutionality of capital punishment in general. When the court first declared such executions constitutional in 1989. Then, only two states that used capital punishment outlawed the practice for the retarded. Now, 18 states prohibit it. “It is not so much the number of these...

Convenience store clerk killer executed 06/14/2002 Associated Press HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Daniel Reneau, a 27-year-old construction worker, was executed Thursday evening for killing a Kerrville convenience store clerk during a robbery more than six years ago. Reneau had no final statement. As the drugs began flowing, he looked at Chaplain Richard Lopez and said, "I thought you were going to speak to me." The chaplain said he would. Reneau's eyes then fell partially shut, his cheeks filled with air and he exhaled one last time. Courtesy of Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Daniel Reneau He was pronounced dead at...

Court blocks Modden execution 06/11/2002 Associated Press HUNTSVILLE, Texas - An East Texas man convicted of a robbery-murder in Lufkin almost 18 years ago won a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court about 31/2 hours before he was scheduled to be executed Tuesday. The high court, acting in the case of Willie Mack Modden, stopped the planned lethal injection as Modden's lawyers appealed he should not be put to death because he is mentally retarded. Modden, who grew up in the Jasper area, was sentenced to die for the July 29, 1984, fatal stabbing of Deborah Davenport, 27. The...

Mental retardation claim could halt scheduled Tuesday execution   The Associated Press   Web Posted : 06/11/2002 5:47 AM   Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate facing execution Tuesday night contended the condemned killer's mental retardation should spare him from lethal injection for an East Texas murder almost 18 years ago.Willie Mack Modden, who grew up in the Jasper area, was sentenced to die for the July 29, 1984, fatal stabbing of Deborah Davenport, 27. The Lufkin mother of three had been filling in for a co-worker when she was robbed and killed while working the late shift...

Doubts raised over killer's retardation 06/11/2002 Associated Press CONROE, Texas - Convicted killer Johnny Paul Penry's assertions of mental retardation are suspect because his medical records are filled with inconsistencies, prosecutors said Monday as testimony began in the punishment trial for the inmate who could get a third death sentence in a nearly 23-year-old murder case. Joe Price, who has prosecuted Mr. Penry twice, told jurors Monday in Conroe, where the trial was moved, that some institutions where Mr. Penry has been hospitalized say he was severely brain damaged while others say he has only minimal damage. In an...

Reprieve for killer debated State board may review youth-offender issue in execution set for today 05/28/2002 By MICHAEL GRACZYK / Associated Press LIVINGSTON, Texas - Texas parole board members were mulling the fate of death-row inmate Napoleon Beazley, whose conviction for killing the father of a federal judge when he was 17 has renewed debate over executing young offenders. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was to vote Tuesday on whether to recommend to Gov. Rick Perry that Mr. Beazley's death sentence be commuted to life. "You don't want to make a decision that will turn out to...

Court declines to hear Beazley's appeal Defense to petition court again Tuesday, when Texan is set to die 05/25/2002 By ED TIMMS / The Dallas Morning News The U.S. Supreme Court declined Friday to review the appeal of Texas death-row inmate Napoleon Beazley, whose case has become a focus of national and international opposition to the capital punishment for youthful offenders. Mr. Beazley was 17 when he fatally shot Tyler businessman John Luttig during a botched carjacking on April 19, 1994. He is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for Mr. Luttig's murder. AP Napoleon Beazley Attorneys for Mr. Beazley...

I never know how much of what I see in tabloids is real... they make up a lot of stuff but, then, nobody has the imagination to make up everything you see in tabloids. Who knows. That said, the front page of the edition of the Globe which is now in supermarkets is interesting to say the least. The cover reads: CHANDRA BOMBSHELL TWO of Condits political pals ordered her execution One is a GOVERNOR One ran for PRESIDENT That's what it says, and approximately the way it says it, and that's all I know.

Lawyers seek stay of execution Killer had recanted confession; prosecutors stand by conviction 05/07/2002 By ED TIMMS / The Dallas Morning News There's no dispute that Brian Edward Davis confessed to fatally stabbing Michael Alan Foster. He later recanted, saying that he had wanted to spare his wife from the death penalty. Several years after Mr. Davis was convicted and sentenced to death, Tina McDonald, his wife until their divorce in 1996, confessed that she alone was responsible. Then she, too, recanted. Mr. Davis, 33, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening. His attorneys were unable to persuade the...

A state court on Wednesday rejected an appeal filed by a man who was sentenced to death for a killing carried out when he was 17. The appeals court also lifted a stay of execution it had granted while reviewing the case. Napoleon Beazley, who was four hours away from execution when he won the stay last August, was convicted of murdering 63-year-old John Luttig, a prominent businessman in Tyler and the father of a federal judge. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected all of the issues Beazley raised in challenging his conviction and sentence. Beazley's attorney...

Convicted killer executed for Fredericksburg shooting 04/10/2002 Associated Press HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A repentant Jose Santellan was executed Wednesday for gunning down his ex-girlfriend almost nine years ago in the parking lot of a Fredericksburg hospital where she worked. "I hope and pray they can forgive me," Santellan said, referring to relatives of Yolanda Garza. "I loved Yolanda a lot." No one from Garza's family attended the execution. "Even though they're not here, I hope they will read my words," Santellan said. In a voice choked with emotion, Santellan told his relatives, watching from a nearby room, that he...

Receive FREE updates by email: The Truth About North KoreaBy Reed Irvine and Cliff KincaidApril 2, 2002 A recent Gallup Poll found that while Americans generally have a negative opinion of North Korea, these attitudes were less negative than views of Iran and Iraq – the other two "axis of evil" countries identified by President Bush in his State of the Union Address. Gallup said that, to some degree, this was because "Americans know less about North Korea than the other two countries." Dr. Norbert Vollertsen is trying to change that. He is the German doctor who spent 18...

<p>ATLANTA — Only on Fox airs Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and Sundays at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. To find Fox News Channel on your local cable system, click here.</p> <p>The execution of Timothy McVeigh has reignited the debate over the fairness of capital punishment.</p>