Friday, February 22, 2019

Bobby Martin: Texas: U.S. Supreme Court compells Texas to apply up-to-date medical standards for determining intellectual disability on death penalty motions, The Texas Tribune (reporter Jolie McCullough) reports..."The Supreme Court has ruled that those with intellectual disabilities can’t be executed, and after reviewing Moore’s case in 2016, it tossed out the way the Texas court determines the disability in 2017. The Texas court previously relied on decades-old medical standards and a controversial set of factors created by judges to make the determination, including how well the inmate could lie. After that ruling, the prosecutor sided with Moore and said that he is intellectually disabled, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals still disagreed, claiming last June that he was eligible for execution under current medical standards as well. Now, the high court has stepped in again, and this time, the majority of justices made clear that Moore has shown he is disabled and therefore ineligible for execution." For the second time, U.S. Supreme Court reverses death sentence decision for Texas inmate Bobby MooreBobby Moore; Texas;


QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "Elsa Alcala, who until January was a judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals and dissented against her colleagues in both of the Moore decisions, said Tuesday's ruling by the high court brought tears to her eyes. "It feels like the weight of the world has lifted for a moment in time," she said."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Texas court previously relied on decades-old medical standards and a controversial set of factors created by judges to make the determination, including how well the inmate could lie. After that ruling, the prosecutor sided with Moore and said that he is intellectually disabled, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals still disagreed, claiming last June that he was eligible for execution under current medical standards as well. Now, the high court has stepped in again, and this time, the majority of justices made clear that Moore has shown he is disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. The court's opinion knocked the Texas court for relying on the same methods it had ruled against in the 2017 opinion, like focusing on Moore's strengths instead of his weaknesses, especially strengths gained in a controlled prison environment. The justices also said that despite the Texas court saying it had eliminated its controversial set of factors, which the high court said were problematic for advancing stereotypes, "it seems to have used many of those factors in reaching its conclusion."

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STORY: "For the second time, U.S. Supreme Court reverses death sentence decision for Texas inmate Bobby Moore," by reporter Jolie McCullough, published by The Texas Tribune on February 19, 2019.