At 48, Paul Goodwin has been condemned and incarcerated at Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, Missouri for nearly 17 years. He stands convicted of killing an elderly woman in her home, after hitting her over the head with a hammer. He gave a full confession, explaining to the police that he hoped to knock her memory out (not kill her).
At 6'7" and more than 300 pounds, Paul is an unusually large man. With an IQ that places him in the Mentally Retarded range, (St. Louis Special School District, 1980, Keyes, 2001 & 2014 and Hanlon, 2014), and a child-like outlook on life, Paul, who has been compared to Lennie, the intellectually delayed and flat character in Of Mice and Men, is far more concerned about the fact that he cannot buy ice cream through the commissary than he is about his impending execution.
An assessment of Paul's adaptive skills, another indicator of mental retardation, supports the findings of mental retardation. In a recent assessment of Paul's adaptive skills, a number of inmates at Potosi Correctional Center reported that Paul cleaned his cell by mixing cleaning solvent into the toilet bowl with a rag, and then wiping down the cell.
While Paul should be protected under the 2002 Atkins decision (which came down after his trial) and protects the rights of the mentally retarded (now Intellectually Developmentally Disabled), poor legal representation has prevented him from benefitting from such protection.
And, to compound Paul's difficulties, his intellectual functioning, which was never good, has deteriorated as the result of an aging brain in the body of a diabetic (Hanlon, 2014). When asked to provide the names of inmates at Potosi Correctional Center who know him well, including former cellmates, Paul could not produce a single full name. Eventually, he produced two names -- David Porter (who turned out to be Daniel Porter, someone who knew Paul well) and Carmen (Deck). As a result of the deterioration in Paul's neurologic functioning, he has been found not competent to be executed, "due to his intellectual developmental disorder, language disorder, learning disorder, and neurocognitive impairment" and the fact that he "lacks capacity to understand matters in extenuation, arguments for executive clemency or reasons why the sentence should not be carried out." (Hanlon, 2014)
While justice is important, what is just or fair about executing a simple man who functions like a child?
To lend your voice to those who are asking Governor Nixon to spare Paul Goodwin's life, please call (573) 751-3222 or send an e-mail.