Texas Continues To Ignore US Constitution

There was a story the other day about an inmate that is currently on death row in Texas:

While in the Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Thomas plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.

A death-row officer at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and took him to the infirmary.

"Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," agency spokesman Jason Clark said Friday.

The story also includes the horrific details of the crime he committed, murdering his wife and two children and mutilating their bodies.

The entire story leaves no doubt in anyone's mind that this guy is as insane as they come, and should have been ruled incompetent.

In 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that putting mentally ill people to death was a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of playing room regarding the definition of mental illness, insanity, and competence.

The State of Texas has repeatedly taken advantage of this sloppiness and has since executed several mentally ill inmates. The judge ruled that this guy, in spite of what he did to his family, and the fact that he already gouged out and ate one of his eyes, was competent to stand trial, and thus he continues to be in line to receive the death penalty, although no date has been set. Yet.

But to think that this is not a violation of the Eighth Amendment is, well, insane. But what can you expect from a state that thought George W. Bush would make a good governor.