CONROE, Texas (AP) -- Despite two murder trials, two Supreme Court reversals and countless hearings, Ellen May's nightmare continues.
May and her family have been caught in the middle of a more than two-decade-old debate over capital punishment and whether mentally retarded people should be sentenced to death.
Johnny Paul Penry, 45, has spent half his life locked up for raping and killing May's aunt, Pamela Moseley Carpenter, at her home in Livingston. Penry's lawyers claim he shouldn't be put to death because he has the thinking abilities of about a second-grader.
Earlier this month, a jury found Penry competent to stand trial despite arguments from defense lawyers that his IQ is below 70, the threshold for mental retardation, and that he could not function in society.
The Texas Legislature last year approved a bill that would have added Texas to the 18 states that prohibit executions of mentally retarded people. The measure, however, was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.
