Ahhhh, ok!

[HIPCHIP]

Texas death row inmate pulls out eye, eats it

Published: 1/9/09, 9:25 PM EDT
By MICHAEL GRACZYK

HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities 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 also 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 infirmary.

""Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," agency spokesman Jason Clark said Friday.


Thomas was treated at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler after the Dec. 9 incident. Then he was transferred and remains at the Jester Unit, a prison psychiatric facility near Richmond southwest of Houston.

"He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day 1," Bobbie Peterson-Cate, Thomas' trial attorney, told the Sherman Herald Democrat. "He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one."

At his trial, defense 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 March 27, 2004, were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, 4-year-old Andre Lee.

Thomas, from Texoma, walked into the Sherman Police Department and told a dispatcher he had just murdered the three and had stabbed himself in the chest.

Thomas told police how he put his victims' hearts in his pocket and left their apartment, took them home, put them in a plastic bag and threw them in the trash.

Court documents described the three victims as having "large, gaping wounds to their chests."

http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=7406&eeid=6316279&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=0&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt&_lid=332&_lnm=tg+ne+topnews&ck=

[bcjack]

SEE....Crime doesn't pay!!

[Radar]

That's the kind of guy you wanna keep an eye out for...

[alexfarrington]

Maybe they have the same problem in Texas that they do in Alabama...

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Alabama-Sheriff-Jailed-Over-Measly-Meals/1$44915

But really? I guess he's not fakin' insanity to avoid the death sentence. Or he misunderstood one of the fundamental facets of our justice system: Justice is supposed to be blind, not the criminal...

[HIPCHIP]

Don't you guys remember your law enforcement history? Lex talionis, the Code of Hamurabi? An eye for an eye!!!:doh::noidea:

[cg+fd2chp]

trying to think of a witty eye joke :noidea:




are there any more?

[CHPwannaBE]

Sooo can he still sleep with one eye open?:biggrin:

[bcjack]

I have to turn a blind eye to this disrespectful behavior.:tape:

[iakona]

I just can't see someone wanting to do that to themselves. :noidea:

[gabriel]

He probably wanted to see what kind of person he really is on the inside. :noidea:

[Coppertone]

wonder if he did it to the tune of Jonny Cash - "eyes wide open all the time......"

:popcorn:

[bob388]

JUSTICE......its blind too!:cool: <----Gonna need the glasses now

[HIPCHIP]

EYE SEE we are continuing our TASTEFUL discussion:doh:

[LadyVol@330]

Can no longer say, "aye, aye, sir." Will have to settle for "aye, sir."

(I wonder how it tasted. :tape:)

[LadyVol@330]

Too late to edit my last post. Upon further investigation, I realized that the man now has NO eyes that function. I hope this won't result in "the blind leading the blind."

[Alkiser]

At least now he can keep a good eye on his diet.

[CHPn00b]

hopefully he can cross his "t"s and dot those lower case... oh nevermind! :popcorn:

[CHPUSMC]

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 March 27, 2004, were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, 4-year-old Andre Lee.



Its Texas Justice...he should have seen that coming...

[23112]

Its Texas Justice...he should have seen that coming...

Now the Texan authorities won't have to blindfold this moron when they cook him in the chair!

[HIPCHIP]

Now the Texan authorities won't have to blindfold this moron when they cook him in the chair!

Heck, they could stick some popcorn in there to tell when he's done!:popcorn:

[Mac]

Heck, they could stick some popcorn in there to tell when he's done!:popcorn:
How 'bout one of those little turkey things that pops up when the inside is cooked all the way through?

[bcjack]

EYE can't believe how cruel you all are being...The man is in jail because he didn't see the error of his ways in time. Look at it from his point of view, he could not see he was doing wrong until it was too late...

[NavytoCHP]

I guess he'll never have the "Eye of the Tiger"...

Sorry, I just had to...:shock:

[sortiz1969]

Now aren't you a sight for sore eyes.:biggrin:

[Reader]

How 'bout one of those little turkey things that pops up when the inside is cooked all the way through?


:badgrin:WIN:shock:

[CTR man]

Didn't you know that he wanted to test out those new prosthetic glass eyes that they have out now to see if they work?

[HIPCHIP]

Maybe he was doing a "Do it yourself colonoscopy"

[23112]

Hey, folks! Eye don't mean to lash out at anyone in particular, but these puns are sure getting cornea! I mean, if we could put a lid on these jokes for a minute, I think we'd be able to see that this prisoner may have been a star pupil in his younger days--something obviously got on this guy's optic nerves and caused him to snap. After all, if we were to turn the critical lens on ourselves, we'd see that we have our own shortcomings, too. Can we just put this whole story in focus? I(ris) don't want to socket to this guy just because he was a prisoner on death row. He's a person like all of us who probably enjoys McDonald's fries and a Big Macula. You bunch of sickos!

- 23112

P.S. Retina

[HIPCHIP]

Hey, folks! Eye don't mean to lash out at anyone in particular, but these puns are sure getting cornea! I mean, if we could put a lid on these jokes for a minute, I think we'd be able to see that this prisoner may have been a star pupil in his younger days--something obviously got on this guy's optic nerves and caused him to snap. After all, if we were to turn the critical lens on ourselves, we'd see that we have our own shortcomings, too. Can we just put this whole story in focus? I(ris) don't want to socket to this guy just because he was a prisoner on death row. He's a person like all of us who probably enjoys McDonald's fries and a Big Macula. You bunch of sickos!

- 23112

P.S. Retina


YOU ARE ONE SICK PERVERTED INDIVIDUAL!!!!!!
I like that in a person :lol:

[Sampa]

He probably wanted to see what kind of person he really is on the inside. :noidea:

:smile:

[CHPwannaBE]

Inmate Who Ate Eye Is Sane, Judge Says

HOUSTON - A condemned Texas inmate with a history of mental problems who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several months ago on death row lost an appeal Wednesday at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Andre Thomas, who turned 26 Tuesday, raised 44 claims in his petition to the state's highest criminal court, challenging his conviction and death sentence for the slaying of his estranged wife's 13-month-old daughter five years ago in Grayson County in North Texas.

His wife and their 4-year-old son were murdered in the same attack. The victims were stabbed and had their hearts ripped out.

Thomas "is clearly 'crazy,' but he is also 'sane' under Texas law," Judge Cathy Cochran wrote in a 14-page statement accompanying the court's brief order upholding Thomas' conviction and punishment.

Among claims in the appeal, Thomas' attorneys argued instructions to his trial jury were incorrect regarding the law on voluntary intoxication, that the instruction should not have been given because it suggested his drug and alcohol use and not insanity were responsible for his actions, and that his trial attorneys were ineffective because they should have known the instructions were improper.

At Thomas' trial in Sherman in 2005, defense lawyers said the killings were the result of insane delusions caused solely by Thomas' mental disease. Prosecutors argued his psychosis was caused or aggravated by his voluntary use of alcohol, drugs and prescription drugs.

"There was ample evidence to reject an insanity defense and support a jury finding that (Thomas) knew that his conduct was wrong at the time he murdered his wife and the children," Cochran wrote. "There was also evidence that (Thomas) did not know his conduct was wrong at the time. This was a quintessential fact issue for the jury to decide, and it did so."

Jurors agreed with prosecutors.

"Although reasonable people might well differ on the questions of whether (Thomas) was sane at the time he committed these murders or competent at the time he was tried, those issues were appropriately addressed by the defense, the prosecution, trial judge, and the jury during the trial," Cochran said.

While in the Grayson County Jail five days after his arrest, Thomas plucked out his right eye. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.

Last December, 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 had him taken to the unit infirmary. Thomas told officials he had pulled out his remaining eye and ate it.

He was taken to a hospital for treatment, then was transferred to a prison psychiatric unit.

There was no reference to the second eye removal in the court opinion.

Thomas was convicted of killing 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes. Also slain March 27, 2004, were his wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, and their son, 4-year-old Andre Lee.

Thomas, from Texoma, walked into the Sherman Police Department and told a dispatcher he had murdered the three, then told officers he put his victims' hearts in his pocket, left their apartment, took them home, put the organs in a plastic bag and threw them in the trash. He said God had told him to commit the killings.

"This is an extraordinarily tragic case," Cochran wrote, saying the deaths could have been avoided because he twice went to hospitals for help but left voluntarily and couldn't be held without legal authority.

The appeals court Wednesday also turned down appeals from two other condemned prisoners, Christopher Coleman and Clifton Lamar Williams.

Coleman, 37, was convicted of the December 1995 shooting deaths of three people in Houston, including a 3-year-old boy, in what was supposed to be a fake robbery scheme involving a Colombian cocaine peddler.

Williams, 25, was convicted of the July 2005 beating, stabbing and strangling of 93-year-old Cecelia Schneider at her home in Tyler. Evidence showed he set her body on fire, then fled with the woman's purse, which contained $40, and her car.

[HIPCHIP]

God bless the great country of Texas!!!!:biggrin:
:cool:

[sonBPTCHIP]

in the immortal words of the great Ron White

"While most states are trying to abolish the death penalty, mines putting in an express lane"

Good to know there are still judges out there who are hard on criminals

[23112]

YOU ARE ONE SICK PERVERTED INDIVIDUAL!!!!!!
I like that in a person :lol:

Why do I keep hearing that?

:biggrin: Thanks, HIPCHIP

[Motor City Cop]

Well I suppose the prison guards and mental docs are just gonna have to keep an eye on him for now.

[SB 405]

Speaking of Wacko's. Have you seen the latest picture of Charles Manson

http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090319-manson-compsite-hmed-745a.hmedium.jpg

[HIPCHIP]

Speaking of Wacko's. Have you seen the latest picture of Charles Manson

http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090319-manson-compsite-hmed-745a.hmedium.jpg

Yes, and doesn't the creep look healthy for being 74 and supposed to be 6' under? Thanks again Jerry Brown for being "Governor Moonbeam"!