HOUSTON (CBS News 19) — Next month's scheduled execution of a Texas death row inmate, whose attorneys say gouged out both of his eyes - each a separate incident - because of severe mental illness, was delayed by a judge on Tuesday.
Andre Thomas had been set to be executed on April 5, sentenced to death for fatally stabbing in March 2004 his estranged wife Laura Christine Boren, 20, their 4-year-old son Andre Lee & her 13-month-old daughter Leyha Marie Hughes, cutting out the hearts of the 2 children.
He later told police God had instructed him to commit the killings & that he believed all 3 were demons. The killings of Boren & her children shocked Sherman, a city of about 45,000 residents.
State District Judge Jim Fallon on Tuesday issued an order withdrawing the execution date. Fallon's decision came after Thomas' lawyers had requested additional time to prepare for a court hearing to review his competency.
The Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for the intellectually disabled, but not for people with serious mental illness. However, it has ruled that a person must be competent to be executed.
His attorneys have said that after he gouged out the second eye, he ate it to ensure that the government could not hear his thoughts.
More than 100 faith leaders & others had earlier asked Gov. Greg Abbott to stop the 39-year-old's execution.
J. Kerye Ashmore, with the Grayson County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, said the faith leaders & others calling for clemency for Thomas are not fully informed about the case.
"None of these people know anything about the case. They are parroting what the defense has told them," Ashmore said.
Ashmore said he's reviewed records that would seem to indicate Thomas knew about his execution date & that he's aware that he's in prison because he killed his estranged wife & her kids.
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