softheart
04-24-2004, 11:55 AM
05:56 PM CDT on Friday, April 23, 2004
Associated Press
HOUSTON – A condemned killer scheduled to die next week for the rape, robbery and fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Denton high school student won a reprieve Friday from a federal appeals court.
Attorneys for James Lee Clark, 35, contend the former plumber's helper from Caddo Parish, La., is mentally retarded and not eligible for the death penalty.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled mentally retarded people may not be executed.
A state district court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with state attorneys who disputed Clark's arguments and refused to block his lethal injection, set for next Tuesday in Huntsville. Clark's attorneys took their case to the federal courts to have the opportunity to "show the state courts' decision was unreasonable in light of the facts," said James Rasmussen, one of Clark's lawyers.
The decision Friday allows defense attorneys to pursue a "fuller exploration by the district court."
Prosecutors contended Clark deliberately was performing poorly on IQ tests. Clark's lawyers said they had multiple tests to show he was mentally retarded.
"Clark presents testimony from two psychologists who independently testified that Clark meets the criteria for mental retardation," according to Friday's appeals court ruling. "Further, Clark presents evidence of three separate IQ tests, all of which place his IQ in a range that both parties admit can indicate mental retardation."
Clark was on parole after serving less than a year of a 10-year term for burglary in Dallas County when he was arrested for the slaying of Catherine Crews, 17, and her companion, Jesus Gilberto Garza, 16, also a student.
Both were shot in the head with a shotgun the night of June 7, 1993, and their bodies were dumped in Clear Creek, north of Denton.
An accomplice, James Brown, received a 20-year term for robbery. Each blamed the other for the slayings. DNA evidence tied Clark to the rape.
Associated Press
HOUSTON – A condemned killer scheduled to die next week for the rape, robbery and fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Denton high school student won a reprieve Friday from a federal appeals court.
Attorneys for James Lee Clark, 35, contend the former plumber's helper from Caddo Parish, La., is mentally retarded and not eligible for the death penalty.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled mentally retarded people may not be executed.
A state district court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with state attorneys who disputed Clark's arguments and refused to block his lethal injection, set for next Tuesday in Huntsville. Clark's attorneys took their case to the federal courts to have the opportunity to "show the state courts' decision was unreasonable in light of the facts," said James Rasmussen, one of Clark's lawyers.
The decision Friday allows defense attorneys to pursue a "fuller exploration by the district court."
Prosecutors contended Clark deliberately was performing poorly on IQ tests. Clark's lawyers said they had multiple tests to show he was mentally retarded.
"Clark presents testimony from two psychologists who independently testified that Clark meets the criteria for mental retardation," according to Friday's appeals court ruling. "Further, Clark presents evidence of three separate IQ tests, all of which place his IQ in a range that both parties admit can indicate mental retardation."
Clark was on parole after serving less than a year of a 10-year term for burglary in Dallas County when he was arrested for the slaying of Catherine Crews, 17, and her companion, Jesus Gilberto Garza, 16, also a student.
Both were shot in the head with a shotgun the night of June 7, 1993, and their bodies were dumped in Clear Creek, north of Denton.
An accomplice, James Brown, received a 20-year term for robbery. Each blamed the other for the slayings. DNA evidence tied Clark to the rape.