A for­mer death row inmate with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties has lan­guished in the Texas prison sys­tem for over 30 years despite hav­ing no valid crim­i­nal con­vic­tion. Jerry Hartfield, an illit­er­ate man with an IQ of 51, had his cap­i­tal con­vic­tion over­turned in 1980 because the jury at his tri­al had been improp­er­ly select­ed. A Texas appeals court ordered a new tri­al for Hartfield, but that tri­al has nev­er hap­pened. In 1983, then-Governor Mark White attempt­ed to com­mute Hartfield’s for­mer death sen­tence to life with­out parole. However, a fed­er­al court has recent­ly ruled that the com­mu­ta­tion was irrel­e­vant since Hartfield was not con­vict­ed of a crime. No action had been tak­en on the case until 2006, when anoth­er inmate helped Hartfield file a hand­writ­ten motion, ask­ing that he be either retried or set free. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reject­ed the peti­tion, but a fed­er­al judge agreed with Hartfield, say­ing the deci­sion over­turn­ing his con­vic­tion still stands. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes said, ​“Hartfield’s posi­tion is as straight­for­ward and sub­tle as a freight train.…The court’s man­date was nev­er recalled, its deci­sion nev­er over­turned, the con­vic­tion nev­er rein­stat­ed; yet Hartfield nev­er received the ​‘entire­ly new tri­al’ ordered by the court.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit called the state’s defense of Hartfield’s incar­cer­a­tion ​“dis­turbing­ly unpro­fes­sion­al” and returned the case to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for fur­ther action. Given the Sixth Amendment’s right to a speedy tri­al, it is not clear that Hartfield could be re-tried.

(M. Graczyk, ​“Jerry Hartfield, Texas Inmate, Waits 30 Years for Retrial,” Associated Press, November 29, 2012). UPDATE: Read the 5th Circuit’s Opinion, Hartfield v. Thaler, No.11 – 40572, Nov. 28, 2012 (cer­ti­fy­ing ques­tion of Texas law to TX Ct. of Crim. App.). See Arbitrariness.

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