The idea that someone can be too mentally ill to be executed is gaining traction in Texas, where the Legislature is considering HB 727, which would exempt people with severe mental illness—including schizophrenia or bipolar disorder—from being sentenced to death. But while signaling a more clear-eyed view of mental health and the criminal justice system, the bill would not provide retroactive relief for some Texas prisoners, including one man whose execution date looms.
On April 5, the State of Texas plans to execute Andre Thomas, who was sentenced to death in 2005 at the age of 21 after he murdered his estranged wife, Laura Boren, their 4-year-old son Andre Jr., and Boren’s 13-month-old daughter, Leyha Hughes. Thomas, who had suffered from hallucinations and suicidal ideation since he was a child, was convinced the three were working with the devil. The act was ritualistic: He used a different knife for each victim to avoid cross-contaminating their blood, and he removed some of their organs. He then stabbed himself in the chest in an unsuccessful attempt to take his own life.
Thomas, a Black man, was convicted of Leyha’s murder by an all-white jury in 2005 and sentenced to death, despite a mountain of mitigating evidence that, if presented by the defense, could have altered the outcome.
“There’s no one in the modern history of the death penalty, I believe, who is as mentally ill as Mr. Thomas,” said Maurie Levin, who’s represented Thomas for over a decade. “The spectacle of him being led to the gurney—blind and psychotic—is not one that I would think even Texas or Governor [Greg] Abbott would want to endorse.”
The deck was stacked against Thomas at trial: Multiple jurors had openly expressed racist beliefs during jury selection. The prosecutor leaned on this during the trial, asking the jury to impose the death penalty so Thomas didn’t date one of their daughters next.
“There’s no one in the modern history of the death penalty, I believe, who is as mentally ill as Mr. Thomas.”
Ngozi Ndulue, deputy director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the Texas Observer in October that the racial bias in Thomas’ case was particularly extreme.
“The importance of having a jury that did not already come with existing bias is very strong [in Thomas’ case],” Ndulue said. “It’s really profound to see the lack of effort on the part of an attorney that would allow these jurors to serve.”
Thomas is incarcerated at the Wayne Scott Unit south of Houston, where the Texas Department of Criminal Justice houses some of its most mentally ill prisoners. Staff say Thomas continues to suffer from delusions despite a heavy regimen of medications. He reportedly believes he’s hearing the voice of God and has expressed that he has no control over his delusions.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, based on the jurors’ racism, in October. Officials set his execution date shortly after.
Now, Thomas’ lawyers are seeking clemency from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Abbott. They’re asking for Thomas’ sentence to be commuted to life in prison or, at the very least, they want a 120-day reprieve to give them time to determine whether he’s competent to be executed. If clemency is granted, Thomas would remain incarcerated—likely at a high-security psychiatric facility—for the rest of his life.
Mark Osler, law professor at the University of St. Thomas and national clemency expert, said clemency decisions don’t come down to meeting a set of criteria. “I wish I could say that there are objective standards that apply, but frankly, it’s highly political,” Osler told the Observer.
But he said it’s not as clear-cut as a distinction between red and blue states. It really comes down to individual governors. Conservative Mike Huckabee granted hundreds of clemency petitions when he was the governor of Arkansas. Osler said Texas is among the states where, in recent years, clemency is extremely rare.
Thomas has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic by many health professionals. While incarcerated, he gouged out both of his eyes, eating one. His mental state and whether he’s constitutionally protected from state-sanctioned execution is at the center of the petition filed this week.
“It is virtually impossible to overstate the depths of that illness, one that plagued Andre from childhood, peaked in the days before the crime, when he desperately sought help, and ultimately led to the killings themselves,” reads the petition.
Levin said the defense team has been met with several roadblocks in trying to access Thomas’ records for the competency hearing, stymied by state prison officials and the district attorney’s office where the crime was committed.
“It is virtually impossible to overstate the depths of that illness—one that plagued Andre from childhood [and] peaked in the days before the crime.”
Thomas’ delusions began when he was around 10 years old. Many of his family members lived with mental illness, including two of his brothers who have also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He grew up in poverty, sharing a room with his many siblings and switching schools regularly. Child Protective Services was called multiple times for alleged parental neglect. In grand jury testimony, his mother couldn’t name any of the schools Thomas had attended or the names of any of his teachers. She also couldn’t recall when he was first arrested or even if he had been arrested before the murder. (He had been arrested numerous times and had spent time in juvenile detention.) He attempted suicide at 13 after his mom said she wished she had aborted him, per court documents. While he attempted to cut his wrists, his dad told him a more effective way to do it.
He has attempted suicide or self-harmed numerous times throughout his life—including two days before the murders. Twice in the weeks leading up to the murders, medical staff requested emergency detention orders, which would compel him to stay in the hospital. Neither order was carried out by police. His behavior had been more concerning to friends and family in the lead-up to the murders. He walked around for days with duct tape covering his mouth, refusing to speak. He attempted to get holy water from a local church, and when they told him he couldn’t take it with him, he dunked his head and hands in the cistern, according to court records.
Executing Thomas, with his continued mental illness, would be unconstitutional, Thomas’ lawyers say. More than 150 mental health professionals and faith leaders have signed letters of support for Thomas’ clemency. “We believe that allowing Mr. Thomas to be executed would violate the United States Constitution, it would violate Texas law, and it would violate basic human decency,” said Greg Hansch, executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness during a press conference about the clemency petition.
Now, it’s a waiting game. The parole board traditionally makes its decision in the final days leading up to the scheduled execution date, 49 days away.
