June 4
TEXAS:
Death penalty inappropriate for a convicted murderer who ate his own eye
One of the oldest concepts of punishment can be found in the Bible - an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Andre Thomas loved memorizing Bible verses when he was in Sunday school at
Harmony Baptist Church, according to a Texas Monthly profile. But after he was
arrested for murder, Thomas took the concept further - gouging out his own
right eye while awaiting trial. After a jury sentenced him to death, Thomas
pulled out his remaining eye and ate it.
Despite a long history of severe mental illness that includes those and other
episodes of self-mutilation, Texas continues to seek to execute Thomas. It is
another instance of the death penalty run amok - a cruel and increasingly
unusual practice that should be put to an end.
On June 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear oral
argument in the case of Thomas, who suffers from "schizophrenia characterized
by psychotic delusions and hyper-religious preoccupations." His lawyers claim
he was "actively psychotic" at the time he murdered and mutilated his ex-wife,
his own son and his former wife's daughter by another man, according to his
attorneys and medical experts.
Incredibly, Thomas' 2 original defense attorneys never introduced evidence in
his trial about Thomas' long history of mental illness, suicide attempts and
visits to doctors seeking help immediately before the crime.
His appellate attorneys subsequently have raised important questions both about
his competence, and about whether members of the all-white jury that sentenced
him to die were biased against him on racial grounds. Thomas is
African-American. His former wife was white and both children were biracial.
Yet four jurors allowed to serve in his case expressed opposition to
interracial marriage. One said it wasn't what God intended. Another said, "We
should stay with our bloodline."
At this point, Thomas is not even seeking relief - he's just asking for a
"Certificate of Appealability," a step required before the court would actually
consider his case and whether to offer relief. The state is opposing that
effort.
Texas should drop its appeal and agree that Thomas' sentence should be commuted
to life. He should be allowed to spend the rest of his days in a jail cell
where the demons of his mental illness and the pangs of his own conscience will
alternately torment him. The rest of us should contemplate what another Bible
verse says about taking an eye for an eye - Vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the Lord.
(source: Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
ALABAMA----death row inmate dies
Alabama death row inmate found dead inside cell
Authorities say an Alabama death row inmate was found dead in his cell from an
apparent suicide Sunday morning.
The Alabama Department of Corrections said 57-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Borden was
found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell during a security check at 2:30 a.m.
He was pronounced dead at 3 a.m., a prison spokesman said.
Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her
father, Roland Harris, in Jefferson County in 1993. Borden, who was separated
from his wife, was returning their 3 children to the Christmas Eve gathering
after a weeklong visit with him.
Prosecutors said he shot Cheryl Borden in front of the children as she helped
move their Christmas gifts and clothing and then shot Harris as he ran for
help.
Borden had been scheduled to get a lethal injection last year, but a federal
judge halted the execution hours before Borden was to be put to death.
The stay was issued because the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered
additional proceedings in an ongoing lawsuit filed by Borden and other inmates
challenging the humaneness of the state's lethal injection process.
(source: The Tribune)
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