The execution date of death-row inmate Andre Thomas, 39, from Texas, who was sentenced to death for murdering his wife and two children, was withdrawn by the judge as there were concerns about Thomas’ mental state. The stay in execution was triggered after he took out his eyes and ate them.
Thomas was set for execution on April 5 for the March 2004 stabbing of his estranged wife Laura Christina Boren, 20, their 4-year-old son Andre Lee and Boren’s 13-month-old daughter Leyha Marie Hughes. Thomas cut the two children’s hearts out as reported by the Associated Press.
Escape From Death-row
State District Judge Jim Fallon issued the order Tuesday withdrawing the execution date after Thomas’s lawyers requested additional time to prepare for a court hearing to review his competency.
Per Supreme Court rules, a person must be competent to be executed, and while the death penalty is forbidden for the intellectually incapacitated, those with serious mental illness have not been automatically granted the same exemption.
In a statement to the AP, Maurie Levin, Thomas’ attorney, said “We are confident that when we present the evidence of Mr. Thomas’s incompetence, the court will agree that executing him would violate the Constitution.
“Guiding this blind psychotic man to the gurney for execution offends our sense of humanity and serves no legitimate purpose,” Levin added on the Death-row inmate.
Thomas, who extracted his eyes on two separate occasions, told police that God instructed him to commit the killings and that he thought all three of his victims were demons.
Thomas’s attorneys also said he ate his second eye after taking it out to make sure that the government could not hear his thoughts.
His mental state
Levin referred to her client as “one of the most mentally ill prisoners in Texas history,” adding that “he is not competent to be executed” and lacks a rational understanding of why he was sentenced to death.
Judge Fallon’s order gives Thomas’s attorneys until July 5 to file a motion asking that his competency be reviewed before the execution can proceed.
If Fallon decides Thomas’s lawyers have presented sufficient evidence, experts will be appointed to examine Thomas and other evidence would be reviewed before a final decision is made.
If clemency is granted, Thomas is subject to the law that existed at the time of his crime – life in prison without parole. If Thomas’s sentence is commuted, he will be eligible for parole in 20 years.