TEXAS, RITARDATO MENTALE SFUGGE A PATIBOLO

 WASHINGTON,  - Per la prima volta dal 2002, da quando cioe' la Corte Federale degli Stati Uniti ha proibito le esecuzioni capitali dei ritardati mentali, il Texas ha graziato oggi uno dei suoi condannati a morte, trasformando la pena in ergastolo.

La decisione di non mettere a morte Robert Smith 35 anni, e' stata presa dal Governatore Rick Perry, su indicazione del pubblico ministero e dei giudici dello Stato dopo che e' stato appurato che l'assassino non possiede tutte le sue facolta' mentali.

Smith era stato condannato a morte per avere ucciso, durante una rapina a Houston nel 1990, il proprietario di un negozio, James Wilcox.

E' la prima volta che Perry concede la grazie da quando ha sostituito, nel dicembre del 2000, l'attuale presidente americano George W. Bush, subito prima che andasse alla Casa Bianca, alla guida dello Stato.

In tutto, sotto Perry, le pene di morte eseguite sono state 81. Durante i sei anni di Bush, il Texas aveva eseguito 152 condanne a morte e solo una persona era stata graziata dall'allora Governatore.

Il Texas e' lo Stato americano che guida la classifica delle esecuzioni capitali negli Usa: sono 321 le condanne a morte eseguite dal 1982, data alla quale la Corte Suprema aveva deciso la fine di una moratoria nelle esecuzioni.

Perry commutes death sentence

Gov. Rick Perry has commuted the death sentence of a Houston killer deemed retarded by the courts in a decision that was considered inevitable under a 2002 Supreme Court ruling prohibiting execution of mentally deficient inmates.

Robert Smith, 36, will be moved from death row to another prison to serve a life sentence for the 1990 capital murder of James Michael Wilcox.

It was the 1st time Perry, who has presided over 81 executions since taking office in 2000, has commuted a death sentence.

Thursday's decision has been expected since Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal recommended the 36-year-old inmate's sentence be reduced in January after his own expert diagnosed Smith as retarded. A district court formally determined Smith was retarded last month.

Smith's attorneys say their client has an IQ of 63, 7 points below the retardation threshold. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that mental retardation exempts convicted killers from the ultimate punishment.

Texas Death Sentence for Retarded Man Commuted

  By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry commuted the death sentence of a mentally retarded Houston man to life in prison on Friday in a rare legal victory for a death row inmate in the nation's leading death penalty state.

Robert Smith, 35, had been imprisoned and awaiting execution since his conviction for the 1990 murder of James Wilcox during a robbery in Houston.

A statement from Perry's office said the governor commuted Smith's death sentence only after prosecutors, a state judge and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended it because Smith had been found to be retarded.

This was the first death sentence put aside in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court  banned executions for the mentally retarded in a 2002 ruling.

It also was the first death sentence commuted by Perry since he succeeded fellow Republican and now President Bush  as governor of Texas in December 2000. Texas has executed 81 people since Perry took office.

Bush commuted only one death sentence during his nearly six years in office, while 152 inmates were put to death.

Texas leads the nation with 321 executions since resuming capital punishment in 1982 after an earlier death penalty ban by the Supreme Court was lifted.

Experts for both the defense and prosecution tested Smith last year and found him to have an IQ of 63, below the minimum of 70 that is generally considered normal intelligence.

He read at a third grade level and could not perform routine tasks such as making change, the tests showed.

Andrea Keilen, lawyer for Texas Defender Service, which defends death row inmates, said Perry had no choice but to give the commutation.

"Gov. Perry did what needed to be done. There was no question Robert Smith was mentally retarded, so his decision complies with what the Supreme Court ordered," she said.

Another 41 Texas death row cases have been sent back for further hearings since the Supreme Court ruling because of inmate claims that they suffer mental retardation, she said. The state has 450 prisoners on death row.

Texas, unlike a number of other states, has no formal process for determining who has below-normal intelligence and has left it to the inmates working with volunteer lawyers to make their cases, Keilen said.

"While what happened in the Robert Smith case was proper and just, justice is proceeding very slowly," Keilen said.

       Texas conmuta pena de muerte a retrasado mental condenado

Austin (EEUU), .- El gobernador del estado de Texas, Rick Perry, conmuto hoy la sentencia de muerte por la cadena perpetua a un retrasado mental que estaba condenado a la pena capital por asesinato.

La decision de Perry supone una victoria poco habitual a los opuestos a la pena de muerte, mas aun en Texas, el estado que mas ejecuciones realiza en Estados Unidos.

El beneficiario es Robert Smith, un hombre de 35 anos que fue condenado a muerte en 1990 por el asesinato de una persona durante un robo cometido en Houston.

La oficina de Perry emitio un comunicado en el que explico que la decision de conmutar la pena de muerte por la reclusion perpetua se basa en que varias determinaciones medicas habian demostrado que Smith era retrasado mental.

Ademas, la Junta de Perdon y Libertad bajo Palabra del estado habia recomendado esa conmutacion.

Se trata de la primera vez que una condena a muerte es anulada en Texas desde que el Tribunal Supremo de Estados Unidos prohibio, en una sentencia emitida en 2002, las ejecuciones de personas con retraso mental.

Texas tiene actualmente 450 presos condenados a muerte a la espera de su ejecucion, de los que 41 estan siendo sometidos a diversos tipos de examenes para determinar si padecen algun tipo de retraso mental. EFE