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December 3, 2009

Texas Poised to Execute Possibly Retarded Prisoner
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And the state of Texas is set to execute a man tonight who may be
mentally retarded despite a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that bans the
execution of mentally retarded prisoners. Test scores have shown the
prisoner, Bobby Woods, has an IQ at or below seventy–– the cutoff point
for mental retardation. In a recent interview with journalist Renee
Feltz, Woods described how he has difficulty reading words with more
than four letters.

Bobby Woods: “They had these Western books. A lot of the words ain’t—you
know, most of the words ain’t past four. I mean, they got—you know, they
have five and six letters, but most of them about four. I can read most
of it, but then some I can’t read. I had to read it like maybe two or
three times, then I finally understand it.”

More of the Bobby Woods interview can be seen on the website of the
Texas Observer and the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute.



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