The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two Texas death penalty cases: one involving egregious racial bias (Buck v. Stephens) and the other addressing our state’s unscientific and outdated process for assessing intellectual disabilities in capital cases (Moore v. Texas). The case of Bobby James Moore raises the question of whether modern standards should be used in determining whether he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.
Category: intellectual disabilities
Tonight, the State of Texas carried out its second execution of the year, putting Robert Ladd to death for the 1996 murder of Vicki Ann Garner in Tyler (Smith County). Late […]
Earlier today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a reprieve to Garcia White. White was scheduled to be put to death on January 28th for the 1989 stabbing deaths of […]
The State of Texas carried out its first execution of 2015 on Wednesday, January 21, putting Arnold Prieto to death for the 1993 robbery and murders of Rudolfo and Virginia Rodriguez […]
A new study of 100 people executed in 2012 and 2013 shows that the death penalty system has failed to identify and execute “the worst of the worst.” According to researchers, the overwhelming majority of those executed had deficits of at least one kind, such as intellectual disability, severe mental illness, or severe childhood trauma.
BREAKING: The Fifth Circuit has just stayed tonight’s scheduled execution of Robert Campbell.
Today, attorneys for Robert James Campbell asked Texas Governor Rick Perry to issue a 30-day reprieve of execution to allow time for the Board of Pardons and Paroles to thoughtfully consider his application for commutation of his death sentence to life without parole on the ground that he is intellectually disabled and therefore constitutionally exempt from execution.
The Arc, which advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has called upon Texas Governor Perry to stop the scheduled execution of Robert Campbell and commute his sentence to life without possibility of parole, based on evidence of his intellectual disability.