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Entries tagged with “Moore v. Texas”

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Jun 07, 2018

“Outlier” Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Upholds Bobby James Moore’s Death Sentence

In a rul­ing three dis­senters crit­i­cized as an ​“out­lier,” and after hav­ing been rebuked by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 for ignor­ing the med­ical con­sen­sus defin­ing intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, a sharply divid­ed (5 – 3) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has upheld the death sen­tence imposed on Bobby James Moore (pic­tured) 38 years ago. On June 6, 2018, the CCA ruled that Bobby Moore is not intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled under the most recent clin­i­cal def­i­n­i­tion of the…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Sep 21, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of September 14, 2020

NEWS (9/​17/​20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has denied post-con­vic­tion relief to Ken Lott, retroac­tive­ly apply­ing its new rule that a death sen­tence imposed under the state’s uncon­sti­tu­tion­al judi­cial fact-find­ing statute did not vio­late Lott’s right to a jury tri­al because the jury had unan­i­mous­ly found an aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance. The court held that Lott’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury tri­al in his cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing proceeding…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Race

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Feb 16, 2018

Is Racially Biased Testimony Wrongly Subjecting Intellectually Disabled Defendants to the Death Penalty?

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 deci­sion in Atkins v. Virginia cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly bars states from exe­cut­ing any per­son who has Intellectual Disability. (Daryl Atkins is pic­tured.) However, as report­ed in recent sto­ries in Pacific Standard Magazine and the news­pa­per, The Atlanta Black Star, some states have attempt­ed to cir­cum­vent the Atkins rul­ing by using social stereo­types and race as grounds to argue that defen­dants of col­or are not intellectually…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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New Voices

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Nov 23, 2016

NEW VOICES: Special Olympics Chair Urges Supreme Court to Strike Down Texas’ ​‘Horrific’ Criteria for Determining Intellectual Disability

Timothy Shriver (pic­tured), the Chairman of the Special Olympics, has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to end Texas’ ​“use of stig­ma­tiz­ing stereo­types” in deter­min­ing whether a defen­dant has Intellectual Disability and is there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion. On November 29, the Court will hear argu­ment in Moore v. Texas, a case chal­leng­ing Texas’ use of the ​“Briseño fac­tors” — a set of unsci­en­tif­ic cri­te­ria based in part…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Oct 19, 2017

Supreme Court Directs Florida to Reconsider Intellectual Disability Decision in Death Penalty Case

The United States Supreme Court has ordered the Florida Supreme Court to recon­sid­er a deci­sion that had denied a death-row pris­on­er’s claim that he was inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty because he has Intellectual Disability. On October 16, the Court reversed and remand­ed the case of Tavares Wright (pic­tured, left), direct­ing the Florida courts to recon­sid­er his intel­lec­tu­al-dis­abil­i­ty claim in light of the con­sti­tu­tion­al stan­dard the Court…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Mar 28, 2017

Supreme Court Overturns Texas’ ​“Outlier” Standard for Determining Intellectual Disability in Capital Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court has unan­i­mous­ly struck down Texas’ stan­dard for eval­u­at­ing intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty in death penal­ty cas­es, call­ing the state’s approach an ​“out­lier” that, “[b]y design and in oper­a­tion, … create[s] an unac­cept­able risk that per­sons with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty will be…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Foreign Nationals

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Oct 02, 2020

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Reverses Course, Takes A Second Foreign National with Intellectual Disability Off Death Row

For sec­ond time in eight days, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has reversed course after ini­tial­ly reject­ing a death-row prisoner’s claim of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and has resen­tenced the pris­on­er to life. The deci­sions, both involv­ing for­eign nation­als and both sup­port­ed by local pros­e­cu­tors, marked the sixth and sev­enth time that Texas courts have vacat­ed death sen­tences imposed on intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled cap­i­tal defen­dants since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Executions Overview

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Aug 29, 2017

Texas Execution Stayed to Permit Proper Consideration of Intellectual Disability Claim

A Texas appeals court has stayed the August 30 exe­cu­tion of Steven Long (pic­tured) to pro­vide him an oppor­tu­ni­ty to lit­i­gate a claim that he is inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty because of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. On August 21, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued the stay and remand­ed Long’s case to a Dallas County tri­al court, direct­ing the court to recon­sid­er his claim of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Feb 20, 2019

U.S. Supreme Court Again Reverses Texas Court’s Rejection of Intellectual Disability Claim

Overturning the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the sec­ond time, the United States Supreme Court ruled on February 19, 2019, that Texas death-row pris­on­er Bobby James Moore is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and may not be exe­cut­ed. In an unsigned opin­ion, the Supreme Court reversed the lat­est Texas appeals court deci­sion that would have allowed Moore’s exe­cu­tion, say­ing the state court had relied on many of the same improp­er lay…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Nov 30, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Argument in Texas Intellectual Disability Case

During argu­ment November 29 in the case of Moore v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court expressed skep­ti­cism about Texas’ idio­syn­crat­ic method of decid­ing whether a cap­i­tal defen­dant has Intellectual Disability and is there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. A tri­al court, apply­ing the cri­te­ria for Intellectual Disability estab­lished by the med­ical com­mu­ni­ty, found that Bobby James Moore (pic­tured) was not sub­ject to the death penalty.