Mississippi (USA): mentally retarded to be executed on 21 May

Amnistía Internacional publicou unha nota de prensa (13 – V – 2008) sobre Earl Wesley Berry. Este é outro caso de pena capital particularmente aberrante, xa que este home padece unha seria limitación das súas capacidades intelectuais e ten un documentado historial de transtornos mentais; segundo un dos peritos é esquizofrénico. Na nota de prensa fálase ademais doutras irregularidades do xuízo. A execución está prevista para o próximo día 21.

A nota de prensa leva por título “USA (Mississippi): Death penalty / Legal concern: Earl Wesley Berry (m)”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

Earl Berry is scheduled to be executed in Mississippi at 6pm local time on 21 May 2008. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Mary Bounds in 1987. His lawyers have provided the courts with evidence that he has mental retardation which, if the case, would render his execution unconstitutional. [...]

He rejected an offer from the prosecution of a life sentence in return for a guilty plea. After a jury trial, he was sentenced to death on 28 October 1988.

The death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court which found fault with the instructions given to the jury, and a resentencing was held in June 1992. At this hearing, the defence presented mitigating evidence, including testimony from a neuropsychologist about Earl Berry’s low intellectual functioning and possible brain damage. A psychologist also testified that, in his opinion, Berry suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. [...]

Enlaces relacionados:

• Coalición Mundial contra a Pena de Morte
• Death Penalty Information Center
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty