Just about five years ago, a slow-witted murderer named Luis Mata invited me to watch him die.
Mata and his brother, Alonzo, had been at the state prison in Florence for nearly 20 years by then. They'd been convicted of brutally killing a woman named Debra Lopez in 1977. After a trial and appeals, Alonzo received life in prison, and Luis received the death sentence.
By the time Mata invited me to his execution, the original prosecutor on the case had changed his mind about Mata's sentence.
Attorneys representing Mata produced mental-health evaluations and evidence of childhood brain injuries that suggested Mata had the IQ of a paperweight.
"None of this critical information was presented at Luis Mata's sentencing hearing," said the prosecutor, Michael Donovan. "Quite frankly, after reviewing these materials, I am shocked and upset that this information had not been presented. Had I known this information, I would not have requested or pursued a death sentence."
Mata was killed anyway.
Back then, the state of Arizona had no problem executing mentally retarded murderers. It still doesn't.
The subject came up recently at the Capital Case Commission, a 30-member panel meeting to examine how Arizona defines and administers the death penalty.
The bottom line is: Arizona really likes it.
One member of the commission, attorney James Bush, suggested that the commission urge legislators to pass a law banning the execution of retarded killers. Thirteen states with death penalties already prohibit such executions.
Bush's reasoning is simple.
"If a state won't execute a juvenile who commits murder because he's too young, it doesn't make much sense to execute a man who's 30 but with the mind of a 6-year-old," he said.
Unfortunately, logic has nothing to do with the death penalty. Neither does fairness. Or common sense.
The national Death Penalty Information Center claims 35 mentally retarded prisoners have been executed in the United States in recent years.
"The problem most people have with changing the (Arizona) law concerns the guidelines," Bush said. "People are concerned about establishing fair standards. They don't want to create a situation like the one we have with people deemed 'mentally incompetent.' People might fake it."
While mentally retarded murderers can be put to death in Arizona, state law doesn't permit the execution of the insane, at least in theory. The truth is, the statute is crazier than that. It says we must give a lunatic enough treatment to make him competent, then kill him. Some members of the Legislature are trying to sort out the mental competency mess, making it more rational. It won't work. It can't.
A system that sanctions the execution of the mentally retarded — even if they're murderers — is itself deranged.
That's one of the reasons I declined Luis Mata's invitation back in 1996. Not because he deserved pity or mercy. He didn't.
But killing is a messy business, even in these days of tidy lethal injection. You can't rationalize it or sanitize it. You can only abolish it. And that's not likely as long as the lunatics are running the asylum we call state government.
E.J. Montini may be reached by e-mail at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com