Robert Ladd: Texas executes intellectually disabled prisoner despite a high court ban on putting mentally impaired prisoners to death. The Guardian.

PUBLISHER'S VIEW (EDITORIAL);  Once again Texas has shown the true colours of its criminal justice system and the people who run it. So brutal, callous, vindictive and unnecessary.  A horrible fate for an intellectually disabled man. A sad moment for America.

Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

STORY:  "Texas executes  intellectually disabled killer Robert Ladd," by reporter Ed Pilkington, published by the Guardian on January 29, 2015.

SUB-HEADING:  "57-year-old man is second mentally impaired prisoner to die by lethal injection in US this week despite high court ban."

GIST:  "Texas has executed an intellectually disabled prisoner despite a high court ban on putting mentally impaired prisoners to death, the second such violation of constitutional protections to occur in the US this week. Robert Ladd, 57, died by lethal injection on Thursday evening. Under Texas’s unique – and widely ridiculed – definition of intellectual disability, he was deemed capable of being executed because he did not match the degree of mental impairment depicted in a character in a John Steinbeck novel.........Under what are known as “Briseno factors”, the state sets out the profile of an individual whom ordinary Texans would agree was intellectually disabled. It points to Lennie Small, the lumbering and childlike character in John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel Of Mice and Men, identifying him as the legal yardstick. Ladd’s lawyer, Brian Stull of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that his client’s fate should not have depended “on a novella. Instead of sticking to the standards set by science, they refer to a character in Of Mice and Men.”"

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/30/texas-executes-robert-ladd-intellectually-disabled-prisoner

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;