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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State Feb. 21, 2003, 3:46PM Penry prosecutor killed in tollway crash By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Joe Price, district attorney of Polk, San Jacinto and Trinity counties known nationally for his three-time prosecution of Johnny Paul Penry, was killed in a one-vehicle accident in north Harris County late Thursday. Price, 58, was on his way to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo barbecue cook-off when he lost control of his vehicle on the Hardy Toll Road near Farm Road 1960 and smashed into a pole about 11:50 p.m. Deputies from Harris County Precinct...

Jury: Penry is not mentally retarded For the third time, man sentenced to die for 1979 rape, murder 07/04/2002 Associated Press CONROE, Texas - A Texas jury Wednesday rejected arguments that convicted rapist and killer Johnny Paul Penry was mentally retarded, and it sentenced him to death. Mr. Penry, 46, has twice escaped death sentences. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the sentences in 1989 and June 2001. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30 that executing mentally retarded murderers is unconstitutional, so state District Judge Elizabeth Coker told jurors Wednesday that they had to find that Mr. Penry...

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...