The state will not seek the death penalty against Johnny Paul Penry

The state will not seek the death penalty against Johnny Paul Penry in an agreement that will require Penry to serve 3 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Polk County Criminal District Attorney William Lee Hon reached the agreement with attorneys for Penry, who was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing 22-year-old Pamela Moseley Carpenter at her home in Oct. 1979. Penry confessed to attacking the woman and stabbing her with scissors.
The prosecutor said a fourth death-penalty trial would have been costly, difficult and vulnerable to another appeal. Penry's attorneys had contended their client, who has said he believes in Santa Claus, has the reasoning capacity of a 7-year-old. While psychological tests have put Penry's IQ between 50 and 60, at least five juries have found Penry to be legally competent to stand trial or have rejected defenses based on mental retardation. The high court in 2002 ruled mentally retarded people, generally considered having an IQ below 70, may not be executed. The Supreme Court first agreed to hear Penry's case in 1988, and the following year overturned his death sentence on 5-4 vote.
In 2000, he got within about 3 hours of execution when the justices halted the punishment. Penry was again sentenced to death, which was voided in 2001 by the Supreme Court on a 6-3 vote. Both times the high court reasoned the jury was not allowed to properly weigh Penry's alleged retardation.
A new trial in 2002 led to a death sentence that was reversed in 2005 by the Court of Criminal Appeals, which ruled 5-4 to send Penry's death sentence back for another punishment hearing.