Texas death row inmate who gouged out his eyes shouldn’t be executed

Andre Thomas, the Texas death row inmate who is so mentally unwell that he gouged out each of his eyes and ate certainly one of them, is scheduled to die by deadly injection in six weeks.

That shouldn’t be allowed to occur.

Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles ought to grant a clemency request made this week by Thomas’ attorneys, who say the delusional North Texas man just isn’t mentally competent and shouldn’t be executed.

In their petition, the attorneys wrote that “the image of this eyeless, psychotic man being guided to the gurney would be a shameful spectacle — an unconscionable use of the ultimate governmental power.” They are proper.

The attorneys are asking the governor and parole board to indicate Thomas mercy by commuting his sentence to life in jail or, on the very least, granting a 120-day reprieve to permit time for the competency query to be thought-about by the Grayson County district decide who signed his death warrant in October.

Thomas’ case illustrates all too tragically why the state of Texas shouldn’t be within the enterprise of executing folks. Our prison justice system doesn’t constantly mete out capital punishment, notably in relation to folks who are mentally unwell.

No one disputes that Thomas, who started hallucinating on the age of 10, in 2004 killed his estranged spouse, their 4-year-old son and her 1-year-old daughter. Believing they have been possessed by demons, he minimize out the childrens’ hearts and a part of the girl’s lung, stuffing them in his pockets. The 21-year-old additionally tried to kill himself by stabbing himself within the chest. When he didn’t die he left the scene, turning himself in to police shortly after.

In the weeks earlier than the killings, a paranoid Thomas twice tried to kill himself. Just two days earlier than the slayings, an emergency room physician deemed him mentally unwell sufficient to be involuntarily dedicated. Thomas wandered away from the hospital earlier than the paperwork was accomplished, and an emergency order was issued for his rapid apprehension however was by no means executed by police.

In March 2005, a jury rejected Thomas’ madness protection in a trial. He was sentenced to death after his legal professional did not introduce proof detailing his prolonged historical past of psychological sickness.

We’d prefer to suppose that over the past 20 years loads has modified in the way in which the prison justice system handles folks who are clearly mentally unwell — from the actions of police to these of prosecutors and juries. A letter from 77 psychological well being officers nationwide to Abbott and the parole board supporting Thomas’ clemency states that the better appreciation for early intervention that exists right this moment might need prevented the tragic killings.

We can’t know if that will have been the case. But the execution of Thomas is indefensible, and Texas ought to commute his sentence.

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