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East Texas man convicted of killing 2 Henderson County deputies gets taken off death row

This decision was made as the court ruled in a separate proceeding that Randall Mays does have an intellectual disability.

HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — An East Texas man convicted of killing two Henderson County deputies and injuring another will be taken off death row following an opinion from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals this week. 

Randall Mays, of Eustace, was found guilty of capital murder of a peace officer and sentenced to death in May 2008. 

In a new ruling Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals changed Mays' death sentence to life in prison without parole. This decision was made as the court ruled in a separate proceeding that Mays does have an intellectual disability. 


“The evidence of Randall's intellectual disability is overwhelming. He has a 63 IQ. His intellectual deficits have been seen, and observed by others, throughout his life from childhood to military service, and throughout his adulthood,” Benjamin Wolff, the director of the Texas Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, said in a statement to the Texas Tribune on Wednesday.

According to the Tribune, an expert hired by the state also confirmed the findings of Mays having an intellectual disability. 

The U.S. Supreme Court prohibited the execution of people with intellectual disabilities in a 2002 ruling (Atkins vs. Virginia).

Mays gunned down three Henderson County Sheriff's Office deputies at his home on May 21, 2007. The shooting left Deputy Paul Hablet, Deputy Sheriff Tony Ogburn dead and Deputy Kevin Harris with a broken leg. Harris retired from the HCSO in 2009.

Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

The three deputies were responding to a domestic violence call in Payne Springs when Mays opened fire on the trio with a "high-powered rifle."

In 2020, Mays' execution was stayed on the basis of intellectual disability. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent his case back to Henderson County to review his claim of having intellectual disability.

At the time of that appeal, Mays said that, in addition to claiming an intellectual disability, racial basis tainted his conviction and death sentence, his jury engaged in prejudicial misconduct and he was improperly interrogated in violation of his constitutional rights. 

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