Supreme Court Halts Today's Scheduled Execution

[Joy]

June 11, 2002, 3:05PM CT

The Associated Press



Supreme Court Halts Today's Scheduled Execution




HUNTSVILLE -- An East Texas man convicted of a
robbery-murder in Lufkin almost 18 years ago won a
reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court about 3-1/2 hours
before he was scheduled to be executed today.

The high court, acting in the case of William Mack
Modden, stopped the planned lethal injection as
Modden's lawyers appealed he should not be put to
death because he is mentally retarded.

Modden, who grew up in the Jasper area, was sentenced
to die for the July 29, 1984, fatal stabbing of
Deborah Davenport, 27. The Lufkin mother of three had
been filling in for a co-worker when she was robbed
and killed while working the late shift at a Lufkin
convenience store.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the
executions of two other Texas inmates who raised
similar claims about mental retardation. The high
court has been reviewing a Virginia case that
challenges the constitutionality of executing mentally
retarded people and a decision is expected at any
time.

Modden, 54, would have been the 16th Texas inmate
executed this year. Another execution is set for
Thursday and three more are scheduled for later in
June.

While the high court vote was not announced, three
justices -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Antonin
Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- said they were not in
favor of the reprieve.

Modden's first conviction, in 1985, was overturned
because jurors were not allowed to consider his claims
of mental retardation as mitigating evidence when they
decided he should be put to death.

He was tried again in 1992, convicted and condemned.
At that trial, jurors were told his IQ was 64. An IQ
of 70 is considered the threshold for retardation.

"I don't remember much," Modden recently told The
Lufkin Daily News. Asked about his execution, he
responded: "It don't bother me ... gotta go some day."

Evidence showed Davenport used her own quarter to buy
a 10-cent cup of coffee for him. Witnesses who were
buying gasoline identified Modden as inside the store
just before 2 a.m. Another customer a few minutes
later
found Davenport behind the counter, stabbed 18 times
in the face and neck.

Modden got about $80.

Modden had an extensive criminal past, starting at age
18 with a burglary conviction. At the time of the
Davenport slaying, he was on parole seven months after
serving 10 years of a 25-year term for aggravated
robbery.

[SSK]

glad to hear that....its about time they stop execute mentally retarded people. it makes bush the only living thing on earth that kills his own kind

[Sandy]

GOOD NEWS!

[Caroline]

I dont understand why texas doesnt actually have LWOP, they have life with parole after 40 years, we need to have LWOP and for life to mean life.