Marvin Wilson execution goes ahead in Texas despite claims of low IQ

Marvin Wilson, a Texas man convicted of killing a police informant almost twenty years ago was executed on Tuesday evening after the US Supreme Court rejected arguments that Wilson was too mentally impaired to qualify for the death penalty.

Wilson was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. at the state prison in Hunstville, despite a 2002 Supreme Court ruling on the Eighth Amendment of the constitution which prohibits "excessive punishment" for prisoners who are deemed intellectually disabled, the Guardian reported. 

In their appeal to the Supreme Court, Wilson's attorneys had pointed to a psychological test conducted in 2004 that reported his IQ at 61, which is below the generally accepted minimum competency standard of 70. However, lower courts agreed with the state attorneys, who argued that Wilson's claim was based on a single possibly faulty test. According to the state attorneys, Wilson's mental impairment claim wasn't supported by other tests and assessments over the years.

"This case really does very much push the line," said Paul Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, who is not involved with Wilson's defense, the Huffington Post reported. "We're talking about a mental child."

Lee Kovarsky, Wilson's attorney said that Wilson's language and math skills "never progressed beyond an elementary school level," that he reads and writes below a second-grade level and that he was unable to manage his finances, pay bills or hold down a job, according to the Associated Press.

Amnesty International also denounced Texas' decision to execute Wilson, calling it "utterly shameful" and demanding that the Supreme Court intervene. 

Wilson was the seventh person executed by lethal injection in Texas this year, according to AP. At least nine other prisoners have execution dates in the coming months, including one later this month.