USA - Texas. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered to review the death penalty cases of Steven Butler and John Matamoros

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered lower courts to review 2 death penalty cases that involved a psychologist who was reprimanded earlier this year for using questionable methods to determine whether defendants were intellectually competent enough to face capital punishment. The state's highest criminal court sent the cases of Steven Butler and John Matamoros back to Harris County courts to re-evaluate the evidence used to sentence the 2 men to death. Dr. George Denkowski examined both of the men and told the juries they did not suffer from mental retardation. In April of this year, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (TSBEP), issued a reprimand against Denkowksi, whose methods were widely criticized. Denkowksi agreed not to conduct intellectual disability evaluations in future criminal cases and to pay a fine of $5,500. In return, the board dismissed the complaints against him. The psychologist admitted no wrongdoing and defended his practice. But defense lawyers were hopeful that the reprimand would prompt the courts to review other cases where juries relied on Denkowski's evaluations to hand down death sentences. Denkowski evaluated 14 inmates who are now on Texas’ death row — and 2 others who were subsequently executed — and found them intellectually competent enough to face the death penalty. Harris County paid Dr. George Denkowski more than $300,000 to test defendants for intellectual disabilities from 2002 until 2008, according to documents obtained by the Texas Defender Service. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that states cannot execute mentally handicapped people. The court, though, left it to the states to create guidelines for determining whether a person is mentally handicapped. Texas courts have generally adopted a 3-part definition that requires the convicted inmate to have below average intellectual function, lack adaptive behavior skills and to have had those problems from a young age. Prosecutors regularly relied on Denkowski to perform psychological evaluations to determine whether a murder suspect would be eligible for execution. In September 2007, Harris County state district judge Mark Ellis in the case of Manuel Plata (see Jan. 16, 2008) concluded that "Dr. Denkowski invalidated the norms of the test by committing errors in administration and scoring." Finally in 2009, other psychologists and defense lawyers complained to the TSBEP that Denkowski used unscientific methods that artificially inflated intelligence scores to make defendants eligible for the death penalty. In his 2006 evaluation of Steven Butler, Denkowski rejected other IQ test scores that indicated Butler was well below average intelligence. He discounted behavioral evaluations from Butler’s family and friends, who said that Butler couldn’t understand the rules of basketball, had to have others read menus for him and that he had failed basic classes. Butler, 49, black, was sentenced to death in December 1988 in the August 1986 shooting death of 50-year-old Velma Clemons during the robbery of a store where the victim worked as a clerk. Matamoros, 49, Hispanic, was sentenced to death on October 29, 1993 for the 1990murder of 70-year-old Edward George Goebel at the victim’s home.