JUNE 27, 2002:

TEXAS: Psychologist: No doubt Penry is retarded

Evaluations before and after convicted killer Johnny Paul Penry raped and killed a Livingston woman show that he is mentally retarded, a psychologist testified Wednesday during Penry's 3rd sentencing trial.

 "It's very clear he is an individual with mental retardation," said Jack Randall Price, a clinical and forensic psychologist.

 Price said a test he conducted in 1990 showed that Penry had an IQ of about 63, a result that his attorneys hope will convince the jury to sentence him to life imprisonment rather than death.

 While expert testimony for the defense has maintained that Penry is mentally retarded and brain-damaged, prosecutors contend that is a smokescreen to cover his responsibility for the stabbing death of Pamela Moseley Carpenter on Oct 25, 1979.

 Under questioning by defense attorney John Wright of Huntsville, Price testified that he conducted extensive testing for Penry's 1990 sentencing trial and again last month at the Montgomery County Jail.

 He said he also reviewed many evaluations conducted before the murder.

 "I've never had a criminal or civil case that had as much testing before the crime as this one," Price said.

 All of the tests he reviewed showed that Penry is retarded, including one in July 1968 that registered an IQ of 51, Price said.

 On Tuesday, a neurologist testified that Penry suffered damage in 4 major areas of the brain.

 Penry was hours away from execution in 1989 and in June 2001 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his sentence.

 The 1989 decision upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, but overturned Penry's sentence because his history of mental retardation had not been presented to the jury.

 That decision was replaced last week, however, when the high court ruled that execution of the retarded is unconstitutionally cruel.