Inmate With Low I.Q. Nears Execution in Texas

[alp227]

Source: James C. McKinley Jr., The New York Times

HOUSTON — A 44-year-man whose lawyers claim he is mentally retarded is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening in Huntsville, Tex., unless the United States Supreme Court agrees to hear his case.

The man, Bobby Wayne Woods, whose I.Q. hovers around the level of a mildly retarded person’s, was convicted of the brutal killing of an 11-year-old girl in 1997 and sentenced to death.

The debate over whether he should be executed reflects the gray area left by the Supreme Court in 2002, when it ruled the mentally impaired were not eligible for the death penalty but left it up to state courts to interpret which inmates qualified as impaired.

Mr. Woods’s lawyers argue that his intelligence scores are low enough that he should be spared because of the Supreme Court ban in Atkins v. Virginia. But several courts have rejected that claim.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/us/04execute.html

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Of course, Atkins v. Virginia is the 2002 Supreme Court case that ruled that executing the mentally retarded violates the 8th Amendment. Further in the article, McKinley narrates Woods's illiteracy (a 7th grade dropout) and how his victim (his ex's daughter) wrote diaries hating him.

I Googled DU before posting and found Woods's name in a 2004 DU Lounge thread about serial killers with the middle name Wayne. One poster said: "I've never met anyone normal named Wayne, Dwayne or Darrell". A couple other examples immediately come to mind, the late guitarist for heavy metal band Pantera, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and the rapper Lil Wayne (real name Dwayne Carter).

As for Woods, I think the Court should issue a stay and let this monster rot in the dungeon for the rest of his pathetic life. If enough mental evaluations prove so, this man is protected by Atkins v. Virginia.

[cali]

1. I oppose the dp across the board including for this man

but what the heck does his victim's writing in her diary how she hated him, have to do with anything? Btw, not only did he cut her throat, he raped her before hand.

[Brickbat]

16. That caught my eye, too -- WTF?

I too am against the DP, across the board.

[imdjh]

2. I oppose the DP, but see no reason for exception here.

On April 30, 1997, Woods entered the home of his ex-girlfriend, Schwana Patterson, through an open window. He then beat and sexually assaulted Patterson's 11-year-old daughter, then abducted her and her nine-year-old brother and took them to a cemetery. There, Woods severely beat the boy about the head, resulting in serious injury and murdered the girl by cutting her throat.


If we accept that the DP is still legal for the purposes of our conversation, then we need to consider not only the mental capacity of the criminal but more importantly the role of that mental capacity. Just because someone is retarded doesn't mean he isn't also a monster.

This man was not a retarded person whose mental age or capacity caused him to react inappropriately in a situation, like firing a gun in frustration or killing a baby that wouldn't quit crying. He broke into a house, kidnapped two kids, raped and killed one of them and beat the other one. I see no reason to believe that his IQ was the reason for this.

[Butch350]

6. Sounds like a premeditated murder plan he carried out to me.

[mitchum]

12. That's because that's what it was (n/t)

[24601]

17. The inference being that enough mental ability to premeditate a

murder presents sufficient understanding for execution? And that would make him not retarded, just stupid.

[mitchum]

18. Exactly (n/t)

[mitchum]

13. +1000

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. They probably could look at other factors besides the IQ test

Of course he is going to dumb down the results of any IQ tests which they give him.

How did he function in society before the murder? Was he able to read? Did he pass the written test to get a drivers license? Was he married to or dating non-retarded women? What type of jobs has he held?

[mitchum]

15. An individual whose I.Q. "hovers around the level of a mildly retarded person’s" can have an IQ...

of 85.
And there are many individuals with similar IQs who function as productive members of society.
He KNEW exactly what he was doing (kidnap, rape, and premeditated murder)

[Devil_Fish]

19. wasn't Shrub's I.Q. about 85? NT

[MrCoffee]

4. Let this bastard rot in jail for the rest of his life

No death penalty, no exceptions.

[FarCenter]

5. Execute him -- if he's left n prision, some parole board will let him out

[junior college]

8. But what if it turns out later he was innocent? nt

[FarCenter]

14. That's extremely unlikely

From the article:
"Mr. Woods, 44, was convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s daughter in April 1997. A jury determined he had abducted the 11-year old girl, Sarah Patterson, along with her brother, Cody, from the family’s home in Granbury, Tex., about 35 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The girl was raped before her throat was slit. The boy was severely beaten and left for dead near a cemetery, but he survived."

Likely the boy could ID him and there would be physical evidence like DNA from the rape.

[unabelladonna]

11. death by a thousand cuts...

is too good. this was an 11 year old child. he kidnapped, raped then slashed her throat. think of the hell her brother and mother are going through. why should this monster be allowed to breathe, be fed 3 sqs per day, and be sheltered from the elements and have better medical care than 40 million americans.

[jobycom]

7. Surprised we never elected him governor. nt

[greiner3]

9. Texas is going to kill Lenny all over again;

Makes me proud to say I'm human.

[mitchum]

10. Lenny kidnapped, raped, and murdered an eleven year old girl? Really?

Damn. And here I thought I knew my Steinbeck...

Since every Lenny needs a George, why don't you sentimentally volunteer for that role? And spare poor Lenny from the ravages of the bloodthirsty mob?

[24601]

20. Then can I tend the rabbits? n/t

[24601]

21. MSNBC reports the execution has occurred. Story at the following

URL http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34260662/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

[proteus_lives]

22. If he's smart enough to rape and kill a little girl then he's smart enough for a needle.