Legal News

Condemned Man Who Did Crazy Thing Deemed Sane by Texas Court

By Ashby Jones

The following post might be the first in the 3+ year history of the Law Blog which should carry the warning reserved for hard-hitting television documentaries. You know the one: “Viewer Discretion is Advised, May Not Be Suitable For All Audiences.”

Here goes:

A condemned Texas inmate who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several months ago on death row is "crazy," yet sane under state law, a judge wrote in an appellate court ruling on Wednesday that rejected his appeals. Here’s the story, from the Associated Press.

According to the story, Andre Thomas challenged his conviction and death sentence for the murder of his estranged wife's 13-month-old daughter five years ago in Grayson County in North Texas. His wife and their 4-year-old son were killed in the same attack. The victims were stabbed and their hearts were ripped out. Thomas, 26, then reportedly walked into the Sherman Police Department, admitted to the killings and said God told him to commit them.

The nine-member Texas Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously upheld Thomas' conviction and punishment. Here’s the court’s per curiam order and accompanying statement by Judge Cathy Cochran.

Thomas "is clearly 'crazy,' but he is also 'sane' under Texas law," Judge Cochran wrote.

At Thomas' trial in 2005, defense lawyers said the killings were the result of insane delusions caused solely by Thomas' mental disease. Jurors sided with prosecutors, who argued his psychosis was caused or aggravated by his voluntary use of alcohol, drugs and prescription drugs.

“Applicant has a severe mental illness. He suffers from psychotic delusions and perhaps from schizophrenia,” wrote Judge Cochran. Still, “there was ample evidence to reject an insanity defense and support a jury finding that (Thomas) knew that his conduct was wrong at the time he murdered his wife and the children. There was also evidence that (Thomas) did not know his conduct was wrong at the time. This was a quintessential fact issue for the jury to decide, and it did so."

Last December, a death row officer at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and had him taken to the unit infirmary. Thomas told officials he had pulled out his remaining eye and ate it. Thing is, it wasn’t the only time Thomas had plucked out an eye. While in the Grayson County Jail five days after his arrest, Thomas plucked out his right eye. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).