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The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Penry v. Johnson (00-6677), holding that a sentencing jury considering the death penalty must be given proper instructions about how to weigh mental retardation as a mitigating factor. The decision overturned the death sentence of John Paul Penry, a Texas death row inmate suffering from mental retardation, and sent the case back to the trial court for re-sentencing. The Supreme Court first heard Penry's case in 1989 and held that, although executing those with mental retardation was not a violation of the Eighth Amendment, Penry's rights were nevertheless violated because the sentencing jury was not properly allowed to take his mental capacity into account. At retrial, Penry was again sentenced to death. In an upcoming case, McCarver v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court is going to again consider whether executing those with mental retardation is a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.