The execution of one of Texas’ ‘most mentally ill prisoners’ has been delayed over concerns for his mental health.
WARNING: This story contains details of a crime that readers might find upsetting
Andre Thomas, 39, was set to be executed on April 5 for stabbing his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, their four-year-old son, Andre Lee, and her 13-month-old daughter, Leyha Marie Hughes, in 2004, according to CBS News.
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Thomas fatally stabbed all three and removed the hearts of the children.
The man later told police that God instructed him to kill his family, and he believed all three were demons.
Five days later, while Thomas was sitting in his jail cell, he gouged out one of his eyes.
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In 2009, he plucked out his other eye and told correctional officers he had eaten it.
Earlier this week, State District Judge Jim Fallon issued an order withdrawing Thomas’ execution date.
The judge’s decision came after Thomas' lawyers had requested additional time to prepare for a court hearing to review his competency.
"We are confident that when we present the evidence of Mr. Thomas’s incompetence, the court will agree that executing him would violate the Constitution," Maurie Levin, Thomas’s attorney, wrote in a statement to The Associated Press.
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"Guiding this blind psychotic man to the gurney for execution offends our sense of humanity and serves no legitimate purpose."
While the Supreme Court refuses the execution of those mentally disabled, those who are mentally ill can still receive the death penalty.
However, If they are convicted and become incompetent while on death row, they can’t be executed.
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In 2018, the Supreme Court declined to review the case after his lawyers argued that some jury members were racially biased.
Thomas, who is Black, was convicted of killing his estranged wife, who was white and their biracial child, as well as his wife’s child from a previous relationship.
His lawyers noted that jurors who didn’t believe in interracial marriages were allowed to serve without an objection from the defense counsel, as per the Death Penalty Information Center.
When asked about their views on interracial relationships, one juror wrote: “I don’t believe God intended for this.”
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Another wrote: "I think it is harmful for the children involved because they do not have a specific race to belong to."
While a third said: ‘I think we should stay with our Blood Line.’
His lawyers added that the prosecution also played on the jurors’ racial bias.
Charisa Bossinakis