Marvin Wilson, a Texas man convicted of killing a police informant two decades ago, was executed yesterday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected arguments that he was too mentally impaired to qualify for the death penalty, the Associated Press reports. Wilson’s attorneys told the high court of a psychological test in 2004 that pegged his IQ at 61, below the generally accepted minimum competency standard of 70.
Lower courts agreed with state attorneys, who argued that Wilson’s claim was based on a single possibly faulty test and that his mental impairment claim wasn’t supported by other tests and assessments over the years. Lead defense attorney Lee Kovarsky said it is “outrageous that the state of Texas continues to utilize unscientific guidelines [ ] to determine which citizens with intellectual disability are exempt from execution.” Wilson was convicted of murdering Jerry Williams, 21, in 1992 several days after police seized 24 grams of cocaine from Wilson’s apartment and arrested him.