|
Milton Mathis
Texas
Possible Mental Retardation
Execution Date: Milton Mathis execution was scheduled for April 20, 2005. The sentence was stayed on April 18, 2005.
Facts of the Case:
Milton Mathis was sentenced to death for the murder of Travis Brown III, 24, and Daniel Hibbard, 31. The two men were shot to death in their home in Houston, Texas. Mathis was 19 at the time. The victims were shot in the head with a .45 calibre pistol. Police believed the motive for the shootings was robbery.
On December 15, 1998, at approximately 8:00 or 8:30 a.m., a woman and her 15-year old daughter went to the home of a man named Chris. Chris rented rooms in his home to Brown and Hibbard. Travis Brown and Milton Mathis were in Travis's room. While the woman, her daughter and Hibbard sat in Chris's room, Chris went into the kitchen. Shortly thereafter, Chris heard gunshots from Travis's room and turned to see Mathis exiting the room with a gun in his hand. Mathis claimed that Travis had just shot himself. Chris told Mathis to put the gun down, however Mathis ordered Chris and the other three back into Chris's room where he walked up to the girl and shot her in the head, leaving her alive but paralyzed from the neck down. Mathis then shot Daniel Hibbard in the head, killing him.
Mathis was subsequently tried by a jury and convicted of capital murder. The jury then returned answers to special issues submitted under the Texas Criminal Code, which required imposition of the death penalty. On September 21, 1999, the trial court entered the judgment and sentence of death. On February 13, 2002, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction.
Mental Retardation:
In their petition to the court for a stay of execution, Mathis' court-appointed lawyers argued that executing Mathis would violate the eighth amendment's prohibition against executing the mentally retarded. They cited an abundance of evidence pointing towards Mathis meeting the criteria for mental retardation as set out in the landmark Supreme Court ruling Atkins v. Virginia. In Atkins the Court concluded that "the Constitution places a substantive restriction on the State's power to take the life of a mentally retarded offender."
The American Association on Mental Retardation ("AAMR") defines mental retardation as: (1) sub-average general intellectual functioning (i.e., an IQ of approximately 70 to 75 or below) that exists concurrently with (2) related limitations in two or more adaptive skill areas (communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure, and work), and (3) onset before the age of eighteen.
According to the AAMR definition of mental retardation, the diagnostic features must be exhibited which characterize mental retardation prior to the age of 18. A collection of evidence points to the fact that the requisite diagnostic features were exhibited by Mathis long before he turned 18.
As maintained by the clemency petition, as early as his time in the first grade, it was clear that Mathis lacked the intellectual capacity of his peers. He was held back in the first grade and continued to have academic, as well as disciplinary, problems throughout his education. Later, during his second attempt at grade 9, he struggled to make D's and F's and dropped out of school. Mathis had trouble reading, writing, and completing simple mathematics. His family and people within the community recall Mathis had difficulty with everyday activities: dressing himself properly, keeping himself clean, cooking, getting places on his own, managing (and even counting) money, and remembering simple tasks. As he got older, his behavior was often age-inappropriate, and he had difficulty expressing himself.
In 1991, when Mathis was in the fifth grade and almost twelve years old, he was referred for an evaluation because of "poor school performance." The school administered several tests, one of which showed a full scale IQ of 79. However, it is important to note that the test used at this time may have been outdated and therefore likely to be unreliable. Allowing for documented IQ inflation (several studies were conducted on the reliability of the test used) and the margin of error, Mathis' attorneys assert that his IQ was at that stage between 65 and 69. At this time he also began to seriously abuse drugs, and his attorneys assert that the chemical assault on his brain has most likely caused significant and permanent brain damage, which further impaired his intellectual functioning. After almost 6 years of drug abuse, his performance IQ plummeted to 60.
At the age of 22, Mathis, according to testing administered by the medical division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in 2002, had a full scale IQ of 62. The prison records accompanying these IQ test results noted "his current cognitive functioning appears to be a function of drug use . . ."
Currently, Mathis has significant limitation in adaptive behavior in all three AAMR domains: conceptual, social, and practical. He has significant limitations in eight of the eleven APA domains - self-direction, functional academics, home living, community living, health, leisure, communication, and social skills.
The attorneys anticipate that a mental retardation expert would recommend additional testing in order to confirm the 2002 results and that Mathis has mental retardation. However owing to his financial situation Mathis had been unable to obtain a current evaluation by a mental health expert. Following the decision of the Court, an evaluation is expected to ensue.
|
