Texas Inmate’s Execution Delayed After He Gouged Out His Own Eyes and Ate One


A Texas judge put off the execution of a man with severe mental illness who had been sentenced to death for stabbing three people to death in 2004. The judge did this after a series of recent events raised questions about the man’s mental health. Andre Thomas, now 39 years old, was supposed to be put to death on April 5 for killing his wife and two children during a psychotic episode he said God told him to do. Now heavily medicated, his attorneys are preparing for a court hearing to examine his competency, with the intention of permanently removing his name from death row. Andre Thomas’s lawyer, Maurie Levin, said, “Guiding this blind psychotic man to the gurney for execution hurts our sense of humanity and serves no good purpose.”