A state district judge denied a request to delay a hearing to determine whether death row inmate Allen Bridgers is mentally retarded.
The mental retardation hearing for Bridgers, 35, will begin Monday, 114th District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent said during a brief court hearing on Wednesday. Bridgers' defense attorney Jared Tyler asked the judge, through a telephone conference, for more time.
Bridgers was to die by lethal injection July 25 for the May 25, 1997, capital murder of Tylerite Mary Amie, 53. The Virginia transient was issued a stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after filing a last-minute claim of mental retardation.
During next week's hearing, which is expected to last about a week, mental experts hired by prosecutors and defense attorneys will testify on whether the killer meets Texas' definition of mental retardation.
Tyler said that Bridgers' brother, Harry Bridgers Jr., must appear in a New York court next week, and that an expert the defense hired has to be in another court. In addition, the attorney said he needed more time to conduct additional investigation in the case.
Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham objected to the motion to postpone the hearing. He said experts hired by the state had blocked off their schedules to attend the hearing, and about six witnesses are being flown into Tyler. He said the delay would cause a significant hardship on the state. Bingham also said the state has subpoenaed Bridgers' brother, who appeared anxious to appear in court for the hearing.
Judge Kent denied Tyler's motion for a continuance and said she would work around the schedules of the defense's witnesses to make sure they would testify.
Tyler works for the Houston-based Texas Innocence Network.
Assistant Smith County DA Mike West is also representing the state with Bingham.
If Judge Kent rules Bridgers is mentally retarded, his sentence would automatically be commuted to life in prison. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing mentally retarded people was unconstitutional.
The burden of proof in a mental retardation claim is on the defense. The three-pronged approach to diagnosing mental retardation includes below-average intellectual functioning, usually denoted by an IQ score of 70 or less; manifestation of the disorder by age 18; and consideration of adaptive functioning, or how a person operates in daily life.
Bridgers, who was 27 and a transient from Virginia at the time of the murder, was staying with the victim at her Tyler home. Bridgers waited in bed with a .38-caliber pistol under his pillow while Ms. Amie took a shower, he told police in a taped confession. When she crawled into bed, he shot her in the back and face, stole $1,400 cash and her car, purse and jewelry, and fled to Florida. Bridgers said he was high on cocaine at the time.
He was sentenced to death in 1998 and scheduled for execution in 2001, but was granted a stay to pursue federal appeals.
Casey Knaupp covers county, state and federal courts. She can be reached at 903.596.6289. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com
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