| Penry v. Lynaugh |
|
Supreme Court of the United States |
Argued January 11, 1989
Decided June 26, 1989
|
|
|
| Holding |
| The Eighth Amendment does not forbid executing
the mentally retarded; however, the three "special issues" a Texas jury is required to consider before imposing the death penalty
did not adequately allow the jury in Penry's sentencing hearing to consider his alleged mental retardation as a mitigating factor. |
| Court membership |
Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
Associate Justices: William J. Brennan, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy |
| Case opinions |
Majority by: O'Connor
Concurrence/dissent by: Brennan
Joined by: Marshall
Concurrence/dissent by: Stevens
Joined by: Blackmun
Concurrence/dissent by: Scalia
Joined by: Rehnquist, White, Kennedy
|
| Laws applied |
| U.S. Const. amend. VIII |
| Overruled by |
| Tennard v. Dretke; Atkins v.
Virginia |
Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989), sanctioned the death penalty for mentally retarded offenders because the Court determined
executing the mentally retarded was not "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. However, because Texas law did not allow the jury
to give adequate consideration as a mitigating factor to Penry's mental retardation at
the sentencing phase of the trial, the Court remanded the case for further proceedings. Eventually, Penry was retried for capital
murder, again sentenced to death, and again the Supreme Court ruled, in Penry v. Johnson,
532 U.S. 782 (2001), that the jury was not able to adequately consider Penry's mental retardation as a
mitigating factor at the sentencing phase of the trial. Ultimately, Penry was spared the death penalty because of the Supreme
Court's ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), which, while not directly overruling the holding in Penry, did give considerable
negative treatment to "Penry" on the basis that the Eighth Amendment allowed execution of the mentally retarded.
Facts
On the morning of October 25, 1979, Pamela Carpenter was brutally raped, beaten, and stabbed with a pair of scissors in her
home in Livingston, Texas. She died a few hours later in the course of emergency treatment. Before she died, she described her
assailant. Her description led two local sheriff's deputies to suspect Penry, who had recently been released on parole after
conviction on another rape charge. Penry subsequently gave two statements confessing to the crime and was charged with capital
murder.
At a competency hearing after a competency evaluation held before trial,
a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jerome Brown, testified that Penry was mentally retarded. As a child, Penry was diagnosed as having
organic brain damage, which was probably caused by trauma to the brain at birth. App. 34-35. Penry was tested over the years as
having an IQ between 50 and 63, which indicates [*308] mild to moderate retardation. 1 Id., at 36-38, 55. Dr. Brown's own testing
before the trial indicated that Penry had an IQ of 54. Dr. Brown's evaluation also revealed that Penry, who was 22 years old at
the time of the crime, had the mental age of a 6 1/2-year-old, which means that "he has the ability to learn and the learning or
the knowledge of the average 6 1/2 year old kid." Id., at 41. Penry's social maturity, or ability to function in the world, was
that of a 9- or 10-year-old. Dr. Brown testified that "there's a point at which anyone with [Penry's] IQ is always incompetent,
but, you know, this man is more in the borderline range." Id., at 47.
The jury found Penry competent to stand trial. Id., at 20-24. The guilt-innocence phase of the trial began on March 24, 1980.
The trial court determined that Penry's confessions were voluntary, and they were introduced into evidence. At trial, Penry
raised an insanity defense and presented the testimony of a psychiatrist, Dr. Jose Garcia. Dr. Garcia testified that Penry
suffered from organic brain damage and moderate retardation, which resulted in poor impulse control and an inability to learn
from experience. Id., at 18, 19, 87-90. Dr. Garcia indicated that Penry's brain damage was probably caused at birth, id., at 106,
but may have been caused by beatings and multiple injuries to the [*309] brain at an early age. Id., at 18, 90. In Dr. Garcia's
judgment, Penry was suffering from an organic brain disorder [***272] at the time of the offense which made it impossible for him
to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law. Id., at 86-87.
Penry's mother testified at trial that Penry was unable to learn in school and never finished the first grade. Penry's sister
testified that their mother had frequently beaten him over the head with a belt when he was a child. Penry was also routinely
locked in his room without access to a toilet for long periods of time. Id., at 124, 126, 127. As a youngster, Penry was in and
out of a number of state schools and hospitals, [**2942] until his father removed him from state schools altogether when he was
12. Id., at 120. Penry's aunt subsequently struggled for over a year to teach Penry how to print his name. Id., at 133.
The State introduced the testimony of two psychiatrists to rebut the testimony of Dr. Garcia. Dr. Kenneth Vogtsberger
testified that although Penry was a person of limited mental ability, he was not suffering from any mental illness or defect at
the time of the crime, and that he knew the difference between right and wrong and had the potential to honor the law. Id., at
144-145. In his view, Penry had characteristics consistent with an antisocial personality, including an inability to learn from
experience and a tendency to be impulsive and to violate society's norms. Id., at 149-150. He testified further that Penry's low
IQ scores underestimated his alertness and understanding of what went on around him. Id., at 146.
Dr. Felix Peebles also testified for the State that Penry was legally sane at the time of the offense and had a "full-blown
anti-social personality." Id., at 171. In addition, Dr. Peebles testified that he personally diagnosed Penry as being mentally
retarded in 1973 and again in 1977, and that Penry "had a very bad life generally, bringing up." Id., at 168-169. In Dr. Peebles'
view, Penry "had been socially and [*310] emotionally deprived and he had not learned to read and write adequately." Id., at 169.
Although they disagreed with the defense psychiatrist over the extent and cause of Penry's mental limitations, both psychiatrists
for the State acknowledged that Penry was a person of extremely limited mental ability, and that he seemed unable to learn from
his mistakes. Id., at 149, 172-173.
Opinion of the court
Concurring and dissenting opinions
See also
External links
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