The mentally retarded could not be executed under a bill that won unanimoussupport in a House committee vote Tuesday.The bill, which was the subject of a public hearing last month, would allowa jury to determine whether the offender was mentally retarded, based on adocumented history. If so, the option of the death penalty as punishmentwould be removed.The jury would still be able to sentence a mentally retarded offender incapital cases to a life term, with a minimum 40-year sentence.Of the 38 states with the death penalty, 13 ban execution of the mentallyretarded.Recent polls have shown that a majority of Texans oppose the death penaltyfor murderers with a history of mental retardation.The bill, which was recommended 7-0 by the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, will be scheduled for debate before the full House.In 1999, a similar bill passed the Senate but died in the House late in thesession.Texas' leadership in executions has prompted national attention, and this isone of several bills to answer critics of the system.The debate over executing the mentally retarded has been ongoing in Texasand was highlighted by the case of Johnny Paul Penry, which has twice beenreviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.Mr. Penry, 44, is said by his defense attorneys to have the reasoningcapacity of a 7-year-old. He was convicted of the 1979 stabbing death ofPamela Moseley Carpenter in Livingston. The Supreme Court threw out hisconviction in 1989, saying Texas law did not give the jury sufficientability to weigh his mental capacity in assessing punishment.The state rewrote a portion of its death penalty and Mr. Penry again wasfound guilty and sentenced to death in 1990.In November, the Supreme Court decided to hear his case, again deciding howmuch the jury could learn and take into account his retardation.During the public hearing on the current bill, supporters called the measure"the decent and right thing to do."But opponents included those whose family members were slain by ElroyChester, a Port Arthur man who was assessed the death penalty in 1998.The family members said Mr. Chester has been diagnosed as mildly retardedand they feared that he could escape the death penalty under the bill."You're making people like this out to be a victim," one opponent said,adding she believed the committee's sympathy was misplaced.What's next: The bill will be scheduled for a full House debate.(source: Dallas Morning News)