US Supreme Court will not stop execution of prisoner who gouged out his eyes in jail

The Supreme Court of USA refused this week to review the case of a prisoner on death row, identified as Andre Thomas, who was sentenced to death for murdering his wife and two of their children in 2004 and who, in prison, gouged out his eyes.

According to the lawyers of Thomasthe all-white jury that convicted him after the murder expressed racist views about him, a black man who was married to a white woman.

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Some of the jurors, as Telemundo Dallas recalls, they expressed their disapproval of marriage between a black man and a white woman.

“I think we should stay with our bloodline”said a female member of the jury that sentenced him to death.

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This is the case.

The murder of his family

Thomas was captured and sentenced to death for stabbing and mutilating his wife Laura Boren and their four-year-old sons Andre and one-year-old Leyha..

The story indicates that Thomas he opened the chest of his wife and children and took out their hearts.

The events occurred in 2004 in the city of Sherman, United States. One year later, Thomas he had already been found guilty for the murder of his relatives.

According to international media reports that have followed the case, such as the Texas Tribune, Thomas suffered from severe schizophrenia.

Andre Thomas committed a horrible and gross crime. He was extremely mentally disturbed at the time and remains so today. Andre pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity. The State agreed that he was psychotic, but argued that he brought it on himself by consuming cough medicine.

— Sister Helen Prejean (@helenprejean) October 12, 2022

His lawyer assures that he heard voices since he was a child, for which he attempted suicide at the age of 10. He also tried to take his own life weeks before murdering his wife and children.

Just five days after being jailed for homicide, Thomas gouged out one of his eyes. Five years later he gouged out his other eye and said that he “had eaten” it.

the lawyer of Thomas had asked the Court to review the case for racial prejudice. However, in a 6-3 vote, the judges refused to review the man’s death sentence.

The three judges who voted to review the case said that no sentence should be handed down with possible racial bias.

“No jury that decides to recommend a death sentence should be tainted by possible racial bias that could affect its deliberations or decisions, particularly when the case involved an interracial crime.”Judge Sonia Sotomayor said, as quoted by Telemundo Dallas.

His lawyer claimed that Thomas is not mentally competent to answer for the crime and reiterated that executing it would be “an ugly sight.”

“Guiding a blind and delusional man onto the stretcher in Texas would be an indelible image that would cast a permanent shadow on the reputation of Texas.”said his lawyer after learning of the Court’s refusal to review the death sentence.

However, several courts in the past had already rejected his defense version that he should not be executed due to his mental illness.

Now, Andre Thomas awaits his execution date in Texas, USA.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.