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Killer With Low I.Q. Executed in Texas

By Steve Hall

That's the title of James McKinley's report this evening for the New York Times.  LINKBobby Wayne Woods was executed Thursday evening in Texas after his lawyers lost a battle to persuade the courts that he was too mentally impaired to qualify for capital punishment. Mr. Woods, 44, was convicted of raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in 1997. He received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:48 p.m. in the death chamber at a state prison in Huntsville, Tex., after the United States Supreme Court denied a request from his lawyers to stay his execution. His last words, at 6:40, were: ?Bye. I am ready.?Tests administered to Mr. Woods over the years placed his I.Q. between 68 and 86, prompting a bitter debate between his lawyers and the state over whether he was too impaired to face execution...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on December 03, 2009 (boomark / email).