''Penry v. Lynaugh'', 492 U.S. 302 (1989), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case that sanctioned the death penalty for mentally disabled offenders because the Court determined executing the mentally disabled was not "cruel and unusual punishment" under the
Eighth Amendment. However, because Texas law did not allow the jury to give adequate consideration as a mitigating factor to
Johnny Paul Penry Johnny Paul Penry (born May 5, 1956) is a Texas prisoner serving three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without parole for rape and murder. He was on death row between 1980 and 2008, and his case generated discussion about the appropriate ...
's
intellectual disability
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...
at the sentencing phase of his murder trial, the Court remanded the case for further proceedings. Eventually, Penry was retried for capital murder, again sentenced to death, and again the Supreme Court ruled, in ''
Penry v. Johnson
''Penry v. Johnson'', 532 U.S. 782 (2001), is a United States Supreme Court case which concerned whether instructions given to a Texas jury were constitutionally adequate to emphasize the mitigating factors in sentencing of defendants who are int ...
'', that the jury was not able to adequately consider Penry's intellectual disability as a mitigating factor at the sentencing phase of the trial. Ultimately, Penry was spared the death penalty because of the Supreme Court's ruling in ''
Atkins v. Virginia
''Atkins v. Virginia'', 536 U.S. 304 (2002), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3 that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, but states ...
'',
[.] which, while not directly overruling the holding in ''"Penry I"'', did give considerable negative treatment to ''Penry'' on the basis that the Eighth Amendment allowed execution of mentally disabled people.
Opinion of the Court
The Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments.
Concurring and dissenting opinions
See also
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 492
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 492 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
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List of United States Supreme Court cases
This page serves as an index of lists of United States Supreme Court cases. The United States Supreme Court is the highest federal court of the United States.
By Chief Justice
Court historians and other legal scholars consider each Chief J ...
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Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
The following is a complete list of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court organized by volume of the ''United States Reports'' in which they appear. This is a list of volumes of ''U.S. Reports'', and the links point to the contents of e ...
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References
Further reading
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External links
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* {{caselaw source
, case = ''Penry v. Lynaugh'', {{ussc, 492, 302, 1989, el=no
, cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/492/302
, courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/112325/penry-v-lynaugh/
, googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8575965776794689824
, justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/492/302/case.html
, loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep492/usrep492302/usrep492302.pdf
, oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1988/87-6177
Capital punishment in Texas
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law
Overruled United States Supreme Court decisions
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
1989 in United States case law