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Thomas was sentenced to dying for fatally stabbing his estranged spouse, their 4-year-old son and her 13-month-old daughter.
SHERMAN, Texas — (AP) — Plagued by psychological sickness, Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas began listening to voices when he was 9 years outdated and first tried suicide when he was 10, his attorneys say.
Thomas’ psychosis, crammed with spiritual delusions and hallucinations, turned worse as he grew older. His household — beset by a protracted historical past of psychological sickness, dependancy and poverty — was unable to assist.
His attorneys say in March 2004, when he was 21, Thomas’ psychological sickness erupted in a burst of horrific violence in his hometown of Sherman, Texas. He fatally stabbed his estranged spouse Laura Christine Boren, 20, their 4-year-old son Andre Lee and her 13-month-old daughter Leyha Marie Hughes, reducing out the hearts of the 2 kids. He later instructed police God had instructed him to commit the killings and that he believed all three have been demons.
Thomas was sentenced to dying for killing the little lady after jurors rejected his madness protection. Prosecutors argued that he knew his conduct was fallacious and exacerbated his psychological situation with drug use. He has spent the final 15 years at a unit south of Houston for the state’s most mentally in poor health prisoners. The closely medicated Thomas, now 39, can be blind. Twice for the reason that killings, he has gouged out his eyes, consuming certainly one of them to make sure that the federal government couldn’t hear his ideas, his attorneys mentioned.
Thomas’ attorneys say he won’t ever be competent for his April 5 execution. They, together with over 100 religion leaders and dozens of psychological well being professionals on Wednesday requested Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his sentence to life in jail or to grant a reprieve so the courts can decide his competency for execution.
“Gov. Abbott has the power to stop the spectacle of prison guards leading a blind, mentally incompetent, delusional man to the death chamber,” mentioned lawyer Maurie Levin.
But authorities say Thomas’ victims and their households shouldn’t be forgotten on this debate and that if Thomas is determined competent, his execution ought to go ahead. The killings of Boren and her kids shocked Sherman, a metropolis of about 45,000 residents 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Dallas.
“A jury has spoken about what justice should be in this case. We are not going to ignore that,” mentioned J. Kerye Ashmore, with the Grayson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.
A spokeswoman for Abbott didn’t reply to an e-mail despatched Friday looking for remark. Abbott has granted clemency to only one death row inmate since taking workplace in 2015.
The Supreme Court has prohibited the dying penalty for the intellectually disabled, however not for folks with critical psychological sickness. However, it has dominated that an individual should be competent to be executed.
Thomas’ attorneys must file a courtroom movement asking that his competency be reviewed. A decide would finally determine the difficulty.
His attorneys say jail information present that as just lately as December, Thomas “still hallucinate(s) constantly,” together with “voices ‘from a spiritual prison’ and seeking ‘angels.’”
“He is one of the most mentally ill prisoners in Texas history,” Levin mentioned.
Thomas’ attorneys have mentioned his trial was additionally problematic as a result of jurors who mentioned they opposed interracial marriage have been allowed to serve. Thomas is Black and his estranged spouse was white. The U.S. Supreme Court final 12 months declined to listen to an enchantment on this concern.
Ashmore mentioned the usual to find out if somebody is competent to be executed just isn’t “whether he is mentally ill or has hallucinations” however determining if an inmate understands why he’s being put to dying or that his execution is imminent.
Joe Brown, the previous Grayson County district lawyer who led the prosecution, mentioned this has been a troublesome case for everybody concerned.
“For many people I hear from, it does not matter whether he understands that he is being punished or not. They believe a crime with those facts demands death. To others … the death penalty is never justified. Our legal system does the best it can in that difficult situation,” mentioned Brown, who’s now in personal observe in Sherman.
The Texas Legislature is ready to debate a invoice that may make folks with extreme psychological sickness ineligible for the dying penalty. Similar payments didn’t change into legislation in 2019 and 2021.
“It could be very troubling to execute Mr. Thomas on the precise time that the (Texas) House is as soon as once more contemplating exempting folks like him from being executed, mentioned Greg Hansch, govt director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Texas. If such a invoice turned Texas legislation, it wouldn’t be retroactive.
Rev. Jaime Kowlessar, a pastor from Dallas who’s among the many greater than 100 religion leaders asking to cease the execution, mentioned placing Thomas to dying would serve no reliable objective.
“We pray that Gov. Abbott will choose the path of healing and grace by sparing Mr. Thomas’ life,” Kowlessar mentioned.
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