Word: cruz
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Oliver David Cruz, the slow-witted (IQ: 63) rapist-murderer executed in Texas Wednesday, chose a south-of-the-border theme for his last supper: spicy beef fajitas, beans and rice, flour tortillas, onions, tomatoes, avocados, a banana split and orange juice...
...Cruz's lawyers hope to establish that their client's mental limitations were not adequately addressed during his trial; prosecutors insist that state-sponsored IQ tests, which placed Cruz well above the 70-point IQ mark, show Cruz to have the capacity to distinguish right from wrong...
Since then, Governor Bush has upheld his position, refusing to take mental capacity into account when reviewing last-minute pleas. The Texas Board of Paroles, the only body in the state with the authority to grant full-out clemency, voted unanimously to refuse Cruz's requests...
...Cruz's chances for an appeal are diminishing by the minute: Under Texas law, Perry can grant Cruz a one-time, 30-day reprieve - a cushion of time that might allow Cruz's lawyers to pursue their appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1998 that capital punishment for retarded inmates was not "cruel and unusual punishment." (Federal law contradicts the Court: Legislation passed by President Reagan prohibits the execution of mentally retarded federal inmates...
...always, this issue gains special weight in a presidential election year. And the American public is increasingly uneasy with the idea of executing mentally retarded inmates; even in Texas, support for this execution is less than enthusiastic. Bush, who has effectively washed his hands of Cruz's case, may yet be haunted by the questions raised by the pending execution. Just as Bill Clinton showed himself to be "a new Democrat" when he bared his law enforcement chops and flew home to oversee the 1992 execution of brain-damaged Arkansas inmate Rickey Ray Rector, George W. Bush is currently confronted...