Ban on Execution of the Retarded Is Vetoed in Texas. The governor explained that there were already safeguards against the execution of the retarded and that, anyway, Texas had not executed a mentally retarded person. Critics say six inmates with IQ’s of 70 or below have been executed in Texas since 1990. Li’l George, as he expounded during his European trip, seems to share Gov. Perry’s confusion in thinking that the U.S. judicial system “protects people who don’t understand the nature of the crime they’ve committed.” The law allows an insanity defense if the nature of the crime is not understood by reason of mental illness, but mental retardation is not a mental illness and does not in itself qualify a defendent for the insanity defense. Instead, mental capacity should be considered as a mitigating factor in sentencing. Advoocates of a ban on the execution of the retarded argue that it is as morally unacceptable as it is to execute a minor. New York Times