Huntsville Item

3rd trial date set for 1979 murder case

A man with a low level of intelligence and termed a "sexual predatory killer" by the local district attorney was granted a third trial.

The trial for Johnny Paul Penry, tentatively set for Feb. 11 in Polk County, was postponed while the attorneys for the inmate sought a change of venue.

 "A pretrial hearing has been set for Feb. 14 to see if the case will be moved to Montgomery County," said Lee Hohn, first assistant district attorney in Polk County.

 Penry currently resides on the Polunsky Unit's death row while awaiting the trial, although technically his death row conviction has been overturned, Hohn said.

 At the center of case is the much-debated issue of whether individuals suffering from mental retardation should be executed for capital crimes.

 On Oct. 25, 1979, Oklahoma native Penry was convicted by a Polk County jury of fatally stabbing 22-year-old Pamela Moseley Carpenter in her Livingston home with a pair of scissors. Penry, now 45, had been released from prison on parole only three months earlier, after serving two years of a 5-year sentence for a 1977 rape conviction. The inmate was also suspected, but never indicted, of raping a Goodrich woman in 1976.

 In 1980, it took a jury less than one hour to sentence Penry to death. In 1988, the Supreme Court granted Penry a reprieve from his scheduled date in the Texas death chamber.

 Penry's case was moved to a Walker County courtroom in 1990 for a 2nd trial.

 Penry, a man with an IQ of between 50 and 60 and the mental awareness of a 7-year-old, was found legally competent to stand trial and again was found guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to death Nov. 16, 2000. Penry received a last minute stay of execution on June 5, 2001. By a vote of 6 to 3, the Supreme Court overturned the decision to put Penry to death, saying jurors failed to take his mental condition into consideration upon sentencing.

 Penry, who reportedly cried when the 1990 death sentence was overturned, has been accused by some of faking his mental retardation.

 Walker County Criminal District Attorney David P. Weeks said while Penry never posted high scores on IQ examinations, that should not be the only indicator of his condition.

 "You could give Tarzan an IQ test and he would score very low. But if you put him in the jungle, he is the king," Weeks said. "In other words, Penry displays a great capacity to conform to his environment."

 Weeks also said Penry and his attorneys continue to make the false claim that he is unable to read and write.

 "As far as being able to read and write, Mr. Penry can write a check and can read a letter from home or read a magazine," Weeks said.

 The matter of Penry's mental retardation and its potential ramifications on America's justice system has drawn groups like the Alpha Resource Center of the United States and the Texas Civil Rights Project to the inmate's defense.

 According to court documents, at age 10, Penry was diagnosed by psychiatrists at Galveston's University of Texas Medical Branch as being mentally retarded. In 1968, the inmate found himself attending a school for the mentally retarded.

 At 17, Penry was incarcerated on an arson charge. He subsequently stayed in several hospitals before being released.

 Mike Adams, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, said he uses the Penry case as a litmus test for student discussion in his classroom.

 "In a society where we execute only about 2 % of our murderers, why should we execute those who are, by definition in the bottom 2 % of mental capacity?" Adams asked.

 "On the other hand, it must be stated that Penry is an exceedingly dangerous man. I am personally outraged by those among Penry's supporters who would suggest that he is either innocent or somehow harmless.

 "It is an unspeakable insult to the family and friends of Pamela Moseley Carpenter," he said.