Hammurabi Code in Texas; Death Row Inmate Eats His OTHER Eye
Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004.
After forcing his way into their third floor apartment, Thomas viciously murdered his estranged wife, Laura Christine Boren, 20, 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes, and the couple’s son, 4-year-old Andre Lee on March 24, 2004. All three victims were brutally stabbed, and their hearts had been ripped out. Court documents described the three victims as having “large, gaping wounds to their chests.”
Evidence later uncovered by Investigators indicated Mr. Thomas removed their hearts manually, and put them in the pocket of the shirt he was wearing during the incident. He later placed them in a bag and discarded them in the trash.
A Texoma Resident, Andre proceeded to enter the Sherman Police Department, confesses to the murders and then stabs himself in the chest.
Following a failed attempt at securing an insanity defense, although Thomas’ older brother Donald Ross testified about his brother’s strange behavior leading up to the murders. Behavior that included drug use, an obsession with the bible, and duct-taping his mouth shut, claiming God was testing him to see if he could go a day without talking
Apparently under some hypnotic, Cyclops species get off of murder charges trance, Thomas plucks out his left eye while awaiting trial for the murders, to which, he pled Not Guilty. Thomas was being held at the time under suicide watch in a see thru cell, but it is unknown the field of vision observed by the guards assigned to Thomas.
The presiding judge was not swayed by the eye patch defense.
Peterson-Cite and R.J. Haloed argued that Thomas’ mental illness was the mitigating element that caused him to kill and mutilate his three victims. Thomas was sent to a state mental hospital after he pulled out his eye at the Grayson County Jail and ruled to be insane. He was medicated and returned to Grayson County. Prosecutors, who did not seem to have a skewed perspective, did not seek an indictment against the infant murder initially, for just this occasion. After a Grand Jury returned a third indictment, Judge James Fry then judged Thomas competent to stand trial, his zero/20 vision notwithstanding.
Once his conviction was upheld, on December 9, 2008, a death-row officer at the Polunsky Unit of Thomas’s cell observed him with blood on his face and took him to the infirmary.
Sans the nice Chianti and fava beans, Thomas ingested his “good eye”.
“He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day 1,” Bobbie Peterson-Cate, Thomas’ trial attorney, told the Sherman Herald Democrat. “He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one.” Link2Thomas is now being held at the prison’s psychiatric Unit. There is no scheduled date for his execution.
Researching this piece, I was struck by two things: 1) These victims were failed by the 
system in some way. This guy is not a Stevie Wonder wanna be, he is a very sick boy with a long history of mental illness with every indication he would act out. Why was there no Protection from Abuse Order? Was this boy on medication and subsequently stopped taking it? People do not just wake up and become homicidal psychos. 2) Almost every person upon reading this case interjects a well intentioned jab at levity; it is simply that grotesque it belies believability.
It happened, what went wrong, and what changes need to made to protect those in similar situations?
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Pretty simple why he did this (even if unconsciously). Article says this individual was obsessed with the Bible”" for a time. Well the Bible says if your eye causes you to sin would be better to “”pluck it out to save your life”" than lose your soul. How much does anyone in here want to bet this is what that VERY strange man was going on when he did this? JMHO :>P”
I’d think this person has something wrong with him. Or am I likely to be sued for slander?
*Ouch* The first link of this article (arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife”") does not work.”
Wow talk about an eye for and eye !!! Or maybe he wanted to see what the inside of his stomach looked like ???
Greetings:
Kind of interesting that no one seems to have the same last name.
Yes, he definitely has some issues no doubt but what was the reasoning for killing his estranged wife, her daughter & his own son? There is more going on in his head than being obsessed with the Bible. It’s really sad that he didn’t get some help before all of this happened. Three people murdered and he mutilates himself. If his family knew he had some issue they should have gotten him help. I would say he is mentally ill but whether or not he is competent enough to stand trial is another thing. Either way I think he will be locked away for a long time and hopefully cannot harm anyone else or himself in the future.
It is heartbreaking to see stories like this.
This guy is just, plain sick!
I believe in the state of Texas, the insanity defense can only be used if and when there is a history of mental illness. Don’t expect to see this guy out on the streets anytime soon, but I get the point you’re making. Clearly, there is something mentally wrong with this person and there is protection under the law.
WHAT A NUT
There are countless examples of cases just like this one where people have, even, asked that they be kept in jail for fear that they will commit a worse offense. One of these people was Wesley Dodd.
After going through extensive counseling for molesting little boys, Wesley plead that the State of Washington keep him incarcerated because his fantasies were getting worse and he was sure that he would end up killing someone. The State held that they had no grounds to keep him incarcerated so he was released. He went on to kill two brothers in Clark County, Washington and a three-year old that he had abducted from Portland, Oregon.
Upon being sentenced to death, he waived his right to appeal. He appeared on the Oprah show to warn parents and PBS did a documentary on him before he was executed. Obviously, justice was carried out, but there is a reason why we, as a civilized nation, do not lock up the mentally insane.
Ok Buster…now THAT was funny! Too bad it’s from such a string of tragic events though :>(
Grotesque is right !! Ugh. What did go wrong? How did our system fail this man as SM asked? How in the hell do mentally ill/dangerous people like this slip through the cracks?
Scary.
I can’t help but wonder did he have a craving for some sushi
Does this guy ever Hope to Change?
There goes his job as the prison softball team’s umpire, or maybe not…
Keeping this guy alive is a complete waste of oxygen!
so was he avoiding SEEING the size of the needle they’re going to use to put him out of his misery? hopefully he’ll recieve the texas express lane.
#3 … Fixed, should work now.
Hey Blink, do you think this guy has an eye for detail?
R
Red- really?
No, not so much these days.
He’s in the eye of the storm I would say.
B
Laugh out LOUD, Texas Chic!
Line ‘em up and ship ‘em out…
Don’t Mess With Texas!
wow, didn’t see that 1 comming
Sure hate when that happens!
He should be booted off to a prison on the moon. Shackle him and make him work to death. Give him a jackhammer and make him drill holes in the ground, then make him pour water into all the holes, so the ground can expand and contract, making sediment. Make these prisoners build silos and fill them with dry food for the animals. Make them fill lunar craters with clean water and set up salt licks for the little creatures. Enough of this resort style prison system here on Earth. I refuse to pay thru the nose to house these prisoners.
To “save money” hundreds of mentally ill people are released back into society when they clearly need to be confined. The same with pedophiles, once they have “served their time” out they go with LE KNOWING they will strike again. It’s shameful.
The truth of the matter is there are alot of sick individuals in the world…..if they are not seeking mental help and commit crimes such as this man, they deserve the death penalty just the same as any sane person….insanity shouldnt be a defense.
OMG
Boo, are you reading my work while waiting for more. I heart you.
B
This guy would rather be blind than dead. If he wanted to kill himself, he could have wrote a letter or called 911 and told them what he had done, then he could have cut his arms, throat, or cut his own throat. He went to the police station and cofessed then stabbed himself because he knew he would get medical care fast. I say kill the loser. IT probably cost twice as much to keep this idiot on death row. He now has to be led around everywhere,and I am sure that his medical bills are very high. Anyone who could cut the heart out of his own child deserves a lot worse than the needle. I guess you will have to ask the devil what he looks like when you get to hell.
I ,eant to say this idiot could have stabbed himself in the heart since he has no problem with pain. I did not mean to say cut his throat twice in my post. I like waht TX. Chic said, he will not see the size of the needle that they will use to send him to hell, and like her I hope he is in the express lane. He should drop all appeals or be put out in a field and made to dig a whole then fill it back up again. As punishment for a minor mistake in boot camp, we did it all the time, and if we hit a sand flea we had to bury him. That was to build up our strength and give us dicipline, we did not kill innocent women and babies. I hope this fools veins are hard to find and I hope they use propofol which if anyone has surgery if it is not mixed with lidocaine, it is very painful and takes between 20 to 30 seconds to knock you out. I had surgery with that and I made them stop and they said they were sorry for forgetting to use lidocaine to ease the severe burning. Where he is going he may as well get used to being warm.
After 25-years working in the mental health field I am always stunned by peoples’ willingness to excuse a persons behaviour because of active psychopathology. My experience and that of most other long-time mental health workers I have spoken to is that despite delusional ideation, mood based impulsivity and other factors those with mental health ilness are as capable as any other in determining right from wrong and/or controlling deadly impulses. If this were not the case then sociopathic behaviours consistent with typical serial killers would also have to be an acceptable excuse as it falls well within the spectrum of being mentally unwell. The main factors leading to lethal acting out are no different to the general population…poverty, poor education, chilhood abuse, greed, narcissism and the like. The ‘falling through the gaps’ blame on social services etc is hugely subjective, without clear rationale and ignorant of relevant experience. Those services are the convenient scapegoat between public outcry in support of civil libertarians and public outcry when it all turns to mud. What to do…I’m not sure but I have often leant toward natural justice at the hands of victims or their significant others.