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10-01-2009, 10:12 PM
Death row inmate 'ate his own eye'
A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told prison officers he ate it.
Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts had been ripped out.
He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.
While in the Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Thomas plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.
A death row officer at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and took him to the hospital.
"Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," prison spokesman Jason Clark said.
Thomas was treated at East Texas Medical Centre in Tyler after the December 9 incident. Then he was transferred and remains at the Jester Unit, a psychiatric prison near Richmond, south-west of Houston.
"He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day one," his lawyer, Bobbie Peterson-Cate, said. "He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one."
At his trial, defence lawyers also argued he suffered from alcohol and drug abuse. Thomas does not have an execution date.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in October upheld his conviction and death sentence for the death of 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes. Also killed on March 27, 2004 were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, four-year-old Andre Lee.
link
http://news.uk.msn.com/world/article.aspx?cp-documentid=12627089
A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told prison officers he ate it.
Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts had been ripped out.
He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.
While in the Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Thomas plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.
A death row officer at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and took him to the hospital.
"Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," prison spokesman Jason Clark said.
Thomas was treated at East Texas Medical Centre in Tyler after the December 9 incident. Then he was transferred and remains at the Jester Unit, a psychiatric prison near Richmond, south-west of Houston.
"He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day one," his lawyer, Bobbie Peterson-Cate, said. "He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one."
At his trial, defence lawyers also argued he suffered from alcohol and drug abuse. Thomas does not have an execution date.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in October upheld his conviction and death sentence for the death of 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes. Also killed on March 27, 2004 were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, four-year-old Andre Lee.
link
http://news.uk.msn.com/world/article.aspx?cp-documentid=12627089