Texas legislators have failed to pass laws that could bring the state into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Atkins v. Virginia that bans the execution of those with mental retardation. Nearly a year after the Court’s ruling in Atkins, Texas officials have no idea how many of the 449 death row inmates have the disability, and no safeguards to ensure that those affected by the ruling are not put to death. Most of the legislative efforts have focused on identifying defendants with mental retardation before their trials, not finding those who are already on death row. Houston defense attorney Dick Burr stated, “People facing the death penalty here are dependent on the good will of their lawyers. It means that some people are lucky and others are not.” The state’s testing has revealed that 7% of Texas convicts have IQs below 70, the commonly accepted benchmark for mental retardation. Thus, there could be as many as 31 condemned inmates who qualify to have their death sentences lifted. Texas Governor Rick Perry has stated that he believes that no one on death row has mental retardation, and his belief is echoed by Houston assistant district attorney Roe Wilson, who handles most of Harris County’s capital appeals. “I don’t know of any who are mentally retarded,” Wilson said.
(Houston Chronicle, May 11, 2003) See Mental Retardation.