Supreme Court throws out
Texas man’s death sentence
By Larry Margasak
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Jurors who
sentenced a retarded killer to
death did not get clear instructions
about how to weigh the defen
dant’s mental abilities against the
severity of his crime, the Supreme
Court ruled Monday.
The ruling overturned the death
sentence of Johnny Paul Penry,
whose lawyers claim their client
has the mind of a 7-year-old and
likes to play with coloring books.
The case, sent back to a federal
appeals court, does not answer a
larger question about whether exe
cution of the mentally retarded is
constitutional. The court has
agreed to use a different case to re
view that question next fall.
The vote was 6-3 on the crucial
question of the instructions, al
though the court was unanimous
in ruling that a Texas court proper
ly admitted evidence of Penry’s fu
ture dangerousness.
Penry was convicted of murder
ing Pamela Moseley Carpenter in
Texas in 1979. She was the sister
of former Washington Redskins
place-kicker Mark Moseley.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
writing for the majority, said the
instructions to the jury were “con
stitutionally inadequate” to protect
Penry’s rights and did not follow
previous court instructions in
death penalty cases.
The instructions left no vehicle
for expressing the view that Penry
did not deserve the death penalty
based on mitigating evidence, she
said.
The Texas Legislature recently
passed a bill banning the execu
tion of mentally retarded persons.
Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t said
whether he will sign it.
The Supreme Court made head
lines last fall when it accepted
Penry’s latest appeal, in part be
cause death penalty opponents say
juries too often get inadequate in
structions and in part because of
Penry’s own notoriety.
Penry has been in the forefront
of the debate over capital punish
ment almost from the moment he
confessed to killing Carpenter.
After a complicated and highly
publicized passage through the
Texas courts, the Supreme Court
accepted his first appeal and in
1989 used his case to establish two
related tenets of capital punish
ment practice.
The court ruled then that execu
tion of. the mentally retarded is
constitutional, but juries consider
ing the death penalty must under
stand how to weigh retardation as
a mitigating factor.
Penry’s case returned to the
Texas courts, where his lawyers
claim the second jury that sen
tenced him to death got no better
instructions than the first.
That is the question the
Supreme Court agreed to review in
his case, but it soon became a side
light.
One day before the justices
heard arguments in Penry’s case in
March, they raised the stakes
much higher by agreeing to hear a
separate North Carolina case that
asks the same question Penry did
12 years ago: Does executing the
mentally retarded violate the
Eighth Amendment prohibition of
cruel and unusual punishment?
If the court reverses itself with
that case and declares that the re
tarded must be spared, the issue of
proper death penalty jury instruc
tions would be irrelevant.
At issue for the court this time
was whether the Texas jury that
imposed Penry’s second death sen
tence understood its options.
Texas authorities claimed the in
structions were clear, and that the
jury knew it could impose a life
sentence instead of death.
Penry’s lawyers claimed the in
structions failed the test the
Supreme Court set out with its
1989 ruling in what has become
known as Penry I.
Texas resentenced Penry in
1990, using the same verdict form
as in the first trial. The form asked
whether Penry deliberately killed
the woman, whether he was pro
voked and whether he was a con
tinuing threat to society.
The judge added an instruction
that if other circumstances war
ranted a life sentence instead of
death, jurors should answer “no”
to one of those questions even if
the actual answer was “yes.” The
jury answered “yes” to all ques
tions.
Texas authorities and the family
of his victim remain convinced he
understood his crime and should ,
die for it.
Penry was on parole for rape
when he was arrested in 1979
and charged with murdering Car
penter, 22. Carpenter was
stabbed in the chest with scissors
she had been using to make Hal
loween decorations, but was able
to describe her attacker before
dying.
State legislators doubt session
will end by the projected date
■ Lawmakers must still pass
the state's major budgets,
and many departments
will suffer shortfalls
By Sue Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
This time of year usually signi
fies the end of the legislative ses
sion, but the Oregon State Legisla
ture won’t be wrapping up
anytime soon.
“The speaker of the House sent
out a letter that adjournment will
be June 8. No one believes that,”
Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene,
said. “The bets I’ve heard around
here are for the last day in June.”
The legislative session con
vened in January and normally
concludes its business in June.
This year, however, the Legislature
still has to approve a budget for the
state.
“We’ve not passed all of the ma
jor budgets,” said Sen. Susan
Castillo, D-Eugene. “If discussion
drags out we’ll be here until the
Fourth of July.”
Legislators foresee that many de
partments across Oregon will face
shortages in their budgets, includ
ing the Oregon University System.
“OUS has asked for $96 million;
fiscal says they’ll give them $35
million,” Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eu
gene, said. “There is a long way to
go between those two numbers.”
CC We've not passed all
of the major budgets. If
discussion drags out we'll
be here until the Fourth
of July.
Sen. Susan Castillo
D-Eugene
Underfunding is predicted to af
fect other state operations, espe
cially the court system. Barnhart
said the justice system budget will
be $69 million short, and that de
partment heads are getting worried
about the situation — enough so
that some are lobbying representa
tives directly.
“The chief justice of the state of
Oregon does not come to the jun
ior legislator from the party out of
power unless he’s desperate,” said
Barnhart. “And we are nearing
desperate.”
In addition to the budgets, legis
lators are also working on what
Castillo refers to as go-home bills.
These are the last bills legislators
have on their schedule before clos
ing the session and heading home.
“There is an Oregon child plan
the governor wants passed. It will
help families with newborns,” she
said. “We are going to have a bill
on doing some transportation
funding. We were hoping to do
some things on initiative reform,
but that has failed in committee.”
Two bills affecting higher educa
tion students, Senate Bill 325 and
Senate Bill 332, have passed both
the House and the Senate and are
awaiting the governor’s signature.
Sponsored by Kitzhaber, SB 325, if
signed, will give students liability
insurance coverage for off-campus
activities. SB 332 will authorize
the Oregon Student Assistance
Commission to seek payments
from any person who lies about
having an academic degree.
Most of the legislative commit
tees have closed for the session
and can only be reopened by the
speaker of the House or the Senate
president. Legislators consider any
bills that fail to make it out of com
mittee dead.
“An example is campus police
carrying guns,” Walker said. “It
has not come out of committee
onto the floor, so it looks like we
won’t see that one at this point.”
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