That's the title of an editorial in Friday's Amarillo Globe-News. LINK
Potter County commissioners approved $44,000 Monday for legal expenses related to the death sentence of Jimmie Lucero, who was convicted and sentenced to die in 2003 for blasting to death three of his neighbors with a shotgun on East Sixth Avenue in Amarillo.
Lucero, 45 at the time of his crime, shot and killed 71-year-old Pedro Robledo, 72-year-old Maria Manuela Robledo and 31-year-old Fabiana Robledo. He tried to shoot another Robledo family member and wounded another severely. He left Fabiana's young son, then 18 months old, without a mother.
Potter County taxpayers are still footing the bill in Lucero's case, thanks to a Chicago law firm that is questioning whether Lucero is mentally retarded, and therefore ineligible for execution under the constitutional definition of cruel and unusual punishment.
Monday's expenses were for mental health experts to make a determination of Lucero's mental capacity, and there will be opinions on both sides, for sure.
Comments