Death Penalty

Johnny Paul Penry's death sentence was overturned for a third time, this time by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, who ruled that jurors may have not properly considered his mental retardation claim. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Penry's death sentence on 2 other occasions, in 1989 and 2001. He was resentenced to death just after the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing the mentally retarded to death was unconstitutional in Atkins.