Texas death row man who gouged out his own eyes asks for clemency

Lawyers for a Texas death-rower who gouged out his own eyes seek pardon for their mentally ill client.

Supporters say Andre Thomas, 39, will never be competent enough for his April 5th execution, and along with more than 100 religious leaders and dozens of mental health professionals, have asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole and Gov. Greg Abbott to commit trip to work. sentence him to life imprisonment or grant him a reprieve for the courts to determine his legal capacity to execute.

“Governor Abbott has the power to stop the spectacle of prison guards leading a blind, mentally handicapped, delusional man into the death chamber,” attorney Maury Levine said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Thomas, who began hearing voices when he was nine years old and first attempted suicide when he was ten, fatally stabbed to death his 20-year-old ex-wife Laura Christine Boren, their four-year-old son Andre Lee, and her 13-month-old baby. – old daughter Lehya Marie Hughes in 2004 in Sherman, Texas. He also cut out the hearts of two children and later told the police that God had instructed him to carry out the murders and that he believed all three were demons.

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Thomas was sentenced to death for the murder of a little girl after a jury rejected his insanity defense and prosecutors argued that he knew his actions were wrong and aggravated his mental state with drug use.

For the past 15 years, Thomas has spent in the Department for the most mentally ill prisoners, located south of Houston. He – after the murders – gouged out his own eyes. His lawyers said he ate one eye so the government could not hear his thoughts.

Authorities say the victims of Thomas and their families should not be forgotten and that if he is found capable, the execution should continue.

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is of Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

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“The jurors spoke about what justice should be in this case. We’re not going to ignore it,” J. Carey Ashmore of the Grayson County District Attorney’s office told The AP.

Thomas’ lawyers said his trial was problematic because jurors who said they opposed interracial marriage were allowed to work. Thomas is black and his ex-wife is white.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at a press conference where he signed Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the State Capitol on June 8, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

His lawyers will have to file a motion with the court asking for a review of his legal capacity, but it will ultimately be up to the judge to decide.

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Abbott has pardoned only one death row inmate since taking office in 2015.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.