THE GUARDIAN: Defence attorneys for Bobby Wayne Woods argued for state to spare inmate following low scores on IQ tests
Texas has executed a child killer at the centre of a bitter dispute over what defines legal mental impairment after several courts ruled that he could be put to death despite a low IQ.
Bobby Wayne Woods, 44, was killed by lethal injection for raping and murdering his girlfriend's 11-year-old daughter after the US supreme court denied a last minute appeal by lawyers who argued that the condemned man fell within a ruling by the same court in 2002 that the mentally impaired could not be sentenced to death.
After being told that the supreme court had refused to intervene, Woods' last words were: "Bye. I'm ready."
Tests on Woods in prison put his IQ as low as 68, below the widely accepted cut off for mental impairment of 70. However, in pursuing the death penalty, the state fell back on other tests conducted when he was a child that put his IQ as high as 86.
Maurie Levin, a University of Texas law professor who represented Woods, said that he is "transparently childlike and simple" and described the execution as "a travesty".
Despite the supreme court ruling seven years ago barring the death penalty for the mentally impaired, individual states are left to decide what defines severe learning disabilities. The court said that an IQ test of "around 70" was an indicator but did not set a specific test.
Recent studies have shown that men with IQ scores lower than 70 have been executed in several states, including Texas and Alabama. Texas executes man at centre of mental disability row >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Friday, December 04, 2009
LE FIGARO: Texas : un homme souffrant de retard mental exécuté : Bobby Woods a été condamné à mort pour le meurtre d'une petite fille. Son exécution relance le débat de la peine de mort des attardés mentaux, interdite depuis 2002 par la Cour suprême. >>> J.J. (lefigaro.fr) avec agences | Vendredi 04 Décembre 2009
NZZ ONLINE: Todesurteil an Kindermörder in USA vollstreckt >>> sda/afp | Freitag, 04. Dezember 2009
