ABC NEWS

 Tuesday June 12

  Death Penalty for Retarded Convicts? 

By Josh Gerstein  President Bush  puzzles reporters by ruling out capital punishment for the retarded, even though he has supported it in the past

A puzzling presidential pronouncement on the death penalty is threatening to further inflame debate on that issue just as President Bush embarks on his first European tour in office

 In a roundtable with European reporters in Washington on Monday, Bush appeared to categorically reject use of the death penalty against anyone who is retarded

 "We should never execute anybody who is mentally retarded," the president said. "Our court system protects people who don't understand the nature of the crime they've committed, nor the punishment they are about to receive."  A Change in Policy?  As governor of Texas, Bush voiced no opposition to the execution of the mentally retarded. Last August, Oliver David Cruz was executed in Texas for killing and raping a woman in 1988. Cruz was put to death despite unchallenged testimony at his trial that his IQ was between 64 and 83

 Then-governor Bush was campaigning in California at the time and did not intervene

 Another retarded man was hours away from execution last November when the U.S. Supreme Court  issued a stay. Bush, who was still governor at the time, gave no indication he planned to block the execution

  A Jury's Determination  White House press secretary Ari Fleischer , who is traveling with the president in Spain, said Bush was restating Texas law

 "What the president was referring to is in Texas what the procedures are for determining mental capacity," Fleischer said in a telephone interview

"That's a determination made by the jury."  Asked if Bush misspoke when he said the retarded should "never" be executed, Fleischer did not answer directly, but said retardation was "one of the factors" juries considered in death penalty cases

  Widespread Opposition to Capital Punishment in Europe  The vast majority of Europeans oppose the death penalty and Bush's visit to Europe was already suffering from some awkward timing on the issue. The execution of Timothy McVeigh  on Monday continues to receive prominent play in the European media. The 43-nation Council of Europe condemned the execution as "sad, pathetic and wrong."  As the president arrived in Madrid today, local newspapers carried front-page stories about the McVeigh execution and protests against it

 "Bush defends the death penalty hours before his arrival in Europe," declared a headline in the Spanish daily, El Mundo

 Spanish news outlets have also given significant coverage to the case of Joaquin Martinez, a Spaniard who was once on death row in Florida, but was granted a new trial. He was eventually acquitted, and returned to Spain on Sunday

A Matter for America, Not the World