By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
(USA TODAY) - Texas has executed an inmate whose lawyers argued was mentally retarded.
Marvin Wilson, 54, was put to death for the November 1992 abduction and murder of a 21-year-old police informant, Jerry Robert Williams, of Beaumont. Because Wilson scored 61 on an IQ test, 9 points below competency, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his execution in 2002, the Houston Chronicle says.
The court rejected Wilson's final appeal less than two hours before he was put to death at the state prison in Huntsville. He was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. CT, 14 minutes after being given a lethal injection, the Associated Press reports.
Several days before the killing, police found cocaine in Wilson's apartment and arrested him. He was already on parole after serving four years for his second armed robbery.
Police arrested Wilson the next day when he reported to his parole officer. Witnesses testified that he and an accomplice, Andrew Lewis, abducted and beat Williams.
Lewis is serving a life sentence. His wife testified that Wilson had confessed the murder to her.