QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He couldn’t tell the days of the week. He couldn’t tell the months of the year; couldn’t tell time... (Moore) “was eating out of garbage cans repeatedly and getting sick after each time he did it, but not learning from his mistakes.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor;
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STORY: "Texas; On death row for 1980 killing, Texas inmate asks Supreme Court to spare him," by reporter Michael Doyle, published by McClatchy on Novemeber 29, 2016.
PHOTO CAPTION: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments over whether Moore was ineligible for execution because he’s intellectually disabled.
GIST: "A Texas death-row inmate who once struggled to spell the
word “cat” exposed on Tuesday sharp differences among Supreme Court
justices over capital punishment and the judging of intellectual
disability. In an hour-long oral argument set against the backdrop of an upcoming confirmation battle,
the short-handed court seemed split along conventional conservative and
liberal lines. The fate of inmate Bobby James Moore and others like him
who are on the borderline of intellectual disability now appears to
hang on one swing vote, that of Justice Anthony Kennedy. “This is a vitally important, life or death issue,” Moore’s attorney, Clifford M. Sloan, told the justices. In
2002, the court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution
of people with intellectual disabilities. It’s been up to individual
states to determine how this standard is met. In Moore’s
case, Texas applied a standard subsequently spelled out in a 1992 manual
by the American Association of Mental Retardation. Critics, including
Moore’s attorneys, consider this standard outdated, and some justices
Tuesday clearly agreed. “Your view ... of state
discretion is that a person that every clinician would find is
intellectually disabled, the state would not find is intellectually
disabled, because a consensus of Texas citizens would not find that
person to be intellectually disabled,” a skeptical Justice Elena Kagan
told Texas Solicitor General Scott A. Keller. Texas officials, Kagan said, believe they “can execute people that clinicians would say are disabled.” There is no question that Texas is very extreme and stands alone. Defense attorney Clifford M. Sloan The
son of an abusive alcoholic father, Moore began skipping school in
fourth grade and dropped out altogether after ninth grade. His father,
who had allegedly beat Moore when he did poorly in school and when he
couldn’t spell easy words, kicked him out of the house when he was 14. “He
couldn’t tell the days of the week. He couldn’t tell the months of the
year; couldn’t tell time,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, adding that
Moore “was eating out of garbage cans repeatedly and getting sick after
each time he did it, but not learning from his mistakes.” By the time he was 17, Moore was a felon who financed his drug use by stealing cars, burglarizing houses and hustling pool. In
April 1980, Moore and two accomplices agreed to commit a robbery. Moore
supplied a .32 caliber pistol and a shotgun, and the three men drove
around Houston until they came upon Birdsall Super Market. Donning a wig
and sunglasses, Moore entered the store with the other two robbers and
then, prosecutors say, Moore shot and killed 70-year-old James McCarble. Moore said the firearm discharge was accidental. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
later confined the assessment of Moore’s intellectual capacity to the
1992 manual. This assessment included a finding that Moore has scored in
the mid-70s on IQ tests. The manual has since been updated, and more
current medical standards de-emphasize rigid IQ scores and place greater
weight on the individual’s real-world abilities to adapt and function. Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer both joined Kagan and Sotomayor
on Tuesday in sounding sympathetic to Moore’s case. “You’ve made very good arguments for your client,” Breyer told Sloan. Texas,
in turn, had apparent allies in Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., and, in
particular, Justice Samuel Alito, a former federal prosecutor. At one
point, Alito pulled out a particular academic journal to support his
point. “Texas is not prohibiting the use of current standards,” Keller said. The argument Tuesday was the second involving a Texas death-row inmate to be heard this term. In October, justices sounded sympathetic to a separate, and relatively narrow, challenge brought by Duane Edward Buck.
A jury in 1996 convicted Buck of killing two people and wounding his step-sister, and he was sentenced to death after a psychologist summoned by his own defense attorney concluded that being “‘Black’ was a ‘statistical factor’” that increased the probability that Buck would commit future acts of violence. In keeping with his standard practice, Justice Clarence Thomas did not speak or ask questions during oral argument for either of the Texas cases. He is, however, a reliable vote to uphold death sentences as a general matter. Decisions in both cases are expected by the end of next June."
The entire story can be found at;
A jury in 1996 convicted Buck of killing two people and wounding his step-sister, and he was sentenced to death after a psychologist summoned by his own defense attorney concluded that being “‘Black’ was a ‘statistical factor’” that increased the probability that Buck would commit future acts of violence. In keeping with his standard practice, Justice Clarence Thomas did not speak or ask questions during oral argument for either of the Texas cases. He is, however, a reliable vote to uphold death sentences as a general matter. Decisions in both cases are expected by the end of next June."
The entire story can be found at;
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
