S. Supreme Court Grants Last Minute Stay for North Carolina Man with Mental Retardation

Ernest Paul McCarver, who was scheduled to be executed at 2:00 am on March 2, was granted a reprieve by the U.S. Supreme Court. The stay was granted after a denial of clemency from the Governor, despite McCarver's mental retardation. (Charlotte News & Observer, 3/2/01) The Supreme Court will be hearing a case related to mental retardation and the death penalty on March 27 (Penry v. Johnson, 00-6677). Legislation to ban the death penalty for those with mental retardation in passed an initial House vote in Missouri. (Associated Press, 3/2/01)