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According to an excellent investigative article in the Texas Observer by reporter Renee Feltz (“Cracked,” Jan. 8), seventeen men currently on Texas‘s death row were evaluated by a forensic psychologist using “junk science” who improperly inflated intelligence quotient, or IQ, scores to make them eligible for the death penalty despite Supreme Court case law banning execution of the mentally retarded
Among the cases Dr. George C. Denkowski apparently tainted was that of Michael Wayne Richard, who was executed for capital murder in September 2007. This case was heretofore better known because Judge Sharon Faye Keller at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied receipt of Richard’s final habeas corpus claim with her infamous “We close at 5” comment. That led to the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct to initiate fact-finding proceedings that may yet lead to her removal.
Filed under: Civil Liberties, Information, Prison Industrial Complex | Tagged: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Atkins v. Virginia, Daniel Plata, death penalty, disinformation, forensic psychology, George C. Denkowski, habeas corpus, Harris County, Harris County Auditor's Office, intelligence quotient, Jerome Brown, Kathryn M. Kase, Michael Wayne Richard, misinformation, prisons, Renee Feltz, Sharon Faye Keller, Texas, Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, Tom Oakland | Leave a comment »
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