A medically diagnosed “mentally retarded” prisoner will be executed by lethal injection in Texas on Tuesday, even though it violates the US Constitution.

Texas rejects scientific consensus and uses its own definition of learning disabilities – based on Lennie Small, a central character in John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men. In Texas, those classified as “mildly retarded” may be executed.In the novel, the mentally disabled Lennie Small is executed by a friend after accidentally killing a woman on the farm where he works. Texas claims that anyone less impaired than the fictional Lennie should receive no constitutional protection from execution by the state.