Disturbing Story in today's Chicago Tribune

[Guest guest]

This story made my blood go cold.

Marie

Paris, Texas, judge denies new trial to man with IQ of 47 who molested boy

Witnesses testify that Hart, 18, is mentally disabled

By Witt | Tribune correspondent

April 8, 2009

PARIS, Texas — For more than six hours Tuesday, as a parade of witnesses

testified about the severity of Hart's mental retardation and his

inability to understand his legal rights, the 18-year-old defendant with an IQ

of 47 sat silent and shackled in a chair, alternately fidgeting and making

faces.

But in the end, none of it was enough to persuade a judge in this small east

Texas town to reconsider the 100-year prison sentence he gave Hart in February

after Hart pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old boy.

Ruling in a case that critics of the local justice system say raises questions

of fairness for the mentally challenged, Lamar County Judge Clifford denied

defense motions seeking either a new trial or a new sentencing hearing for Hart.

His former special-education teacher testified that Hart functions below the

level of a 1st grader.

Last September, Hart confessed to police that he forced the boy to perform oral

sex. The boy's stepmother had discovered them both behind a shed with their

pants lowered. Hart's court-appointed attorney entered guilty pleas on his

behalf to five related felony counts, a jury recommended multiple sentences and

Clifford stacked the prison terms to run consecutively, for a total of 100

years.

But Hart's appellate attorney, Pearson, argued Tuesday that Hart had

received ineffective legal assistance because his trial attorney had failed to

present any expert testimony about Hart's mental functioning or his ability to

comprehend the charges against him.

" This case cried out for a mental health evaluation, to explain this disability

to the judge and jury, " Pearson told Clifford. " One of the features of people

with this kind of mental retardation is they cannot appreciate degrees of

wrongfulness. "

District Atty. Young countered that a court-appointed expert had determined

that Hart was legally competent and that a jury had determined he was a danger

to the community.

" Everyone feels sorry for Mr. Hart, " Young told the judge. " The question is, do

you leave him on the street or send him to prison? "

Clifford, who last week said he had agonized over the case, took only a few

seconds to issue his ruling.

" Irregardless of whether he understood his Miranda rights, the evidence I have

seen is overwhelming that he committed the offense, " Clifford said. " The court

finds that allegations of incompetence of counsel are unfounded. "

Hart will remain in jail pending the outcome of an appeal likely to be heard in

the fall. Hart's parents say he has been raped repeatedly by other inmates since

he was first arrested last September.

hwitt@...