U.S. Supreme Court rules for Texas death row inmate over IQ claim

[webfact]

U.S. Supreme Court rules for Texas death row inmate over IQ claim

By Lawrence Hurley

REUTERS

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday faulted Texas, the U.S. leader in executions, in a death penalty case for the second time in a month and again ruled in favour of a black inmate, finding the state used an obsolete standard to assess whether he is intellectually disabled and exempt from capital punishment.

 

The justices, in a 5-3 decision, threw out a Texas court's ruling upholding the death sentence of Bobby Moore, 57, who was convicted at age 20 of fatally shooting an elderly grocery store clerk during a 1980 robbery in Houston. Moore's lawyers argue he is intellectually disabled and thus not eligible for the death penalty, and now get another chance to show that in court.

 

"Today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that all persons with intellectual disability are exempt from execution, and that current medical standards must be used to determine whether a person is intellectually disabled," said Cliff Sloan, Moore's lawyer.

 

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the execution of people who are intellectually disabled violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bans cruel and unusual punishment. In Moore's case, in a ruling authored by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court held that the Texas system for gauging the intellect of defendants is deficient.

 

On Feb. 22, the court gave another Texas death row inmate, Duane Buck, a chance to avoid execution because his trial was tainted by testimony from a psychologist who stated Buck was more likely to commit future crimes because he is black. Chief Justice John Roberts denounced the "noxious strain of racial prejudice" seen in that Texas case.

 

Since the resumption of capital punishment in the United States four decades ago, Texas has carried out 542 executions, far more than any other state. Texas has executed four inmates so far this year, more than every other state combined.

 

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said he was disappointed in the ruling on Moore but offered no further comment.

 

The lower court that upheld Moore's sentence wrongly used a quarter-century old definition employed in Texas when it determined Moore was not intellectually disabled, the court ruled. Moore's lawyers said a lower court found that Moore's IQ of 70 was "within the range of mild mental retardation."

 

'DIMINISH THE FORCE'

 

Ginsburg noted that the Supreme Court had previously said consideration of intellectual disability must be guided by the views of medical experts.

 

"That instruction cannot sensibly be read to give courts leave to diminish the force of the medical community's consensus," Ginsburg wrote.

 

Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court's four liberals in the ruling. Three of the court's conservatives, Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, dissented.

 

Roberts wrote in dissent that court precedent did not compel a ruling favouring Moore.

 

"The court instead crafts a constitutional holding based solely on what it deems to be medical consensus about intellectual disability. But clinicians, not judges, should determine clinical standards; and judges, not clinicians, should determine the content of the Eighth Amendment," he wrote.

 

Moore, a repeat offender at the time of the murder, shot store clerk James McCarble in the head with a shotgun after entering the Birdsall Super Market with two other robbers wearing a wig and sunglasses, according to prosecutors. Authorities apprehended him in Louisiana 10 days later.

 

More death row inmates from Harris County, where Moore was prosecuted, have been executed since the resumption of the death penalty than any other county. In fact, the number of inmates executed from that single county exceeds the total of any other whole state other than Texas.

 

U.S. executions are becoming less common, with opinion polls showing rising opposition to the death penalty. Twenty executions were carried out in 2016, the lowest total since 1991, and they took place in only five of the 50 states.

 

The Supreme Court's justices have differed among themselves over capital punishment but the court has shown no indication it will take up the broader question of the whether the death penalty itself violates the Constitution.

 

In 2015, they upheld Oklahoma's lethal injection process in a 5-4 ruling. But Ginsburg and fellow liberal Justice Stephen Breyer asserted that the way the death penalty is implemented may be unconstitutional in part because of state-to-state differences.

 

On Feb. 21, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor faulted the court for declining to consider whether Alabama's lethal injection procedures amounted to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

 

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-03-29

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Texas has carried out 542 executions

With a majority of defendants being white since 1976.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976

 

[phantomfiddler]

Wouldn,t it be great to go into an exam knowing that the lower you scored the greater your chances of success !!!

[Jingthing]

A government with a higher IQ wouldn't be executing anyone. It's barbaric, it's documented that sometimes the executed are innocent, and in the U.S. system executing someone is MUCH more expensive than prison for life. Also it can be argued being locked up for life is a harsher punishment and at least in that case if there is new evidence, innocent people still have a chance of justice. 

[malibukid]

if Trump has his way with the Supreme Court appointees  this could change.  a more conservative court and we could see landmark decisions reversed. back to the bad old days.

 

[mamypoko]

checks and balances...that's my next tattoo 

[hdkane]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

A government with a higher IQ wouldn't be executing anyone. It's barbaric, it's documented that sometimes the executed are innocent, and in the U.S. system executing someone is MUCH more expensive than prison for life. Also it can be argued being locked up for life is a harsher punishment and at least in that case if there is new evidence, innocent people still have a chance of justice. 

I really like the idea of the death penalty...it's about retribution, which I think is a reasonable goal...but you are right on all points...it's more expensive to execute a convict, and even more humane than being in prison for natural life...life in confinement is a far worse punishment than painless death...so I tend to find myself against the policy...I wish the states in the US would simply get on the same page and abolish the practice. The countries that have the death penalty don't make for good company.

[Jingthing]

16 minutes ago, hdkane said:

I really like the idea of the death penalty...it's about retribution, which I think is a reasonable goal...but you are right on all points...it's more expensive to execute a convict, and even more humane than being in prison for natural life...life in confinement is a far worse punishment than painless death...so I tend to find myself against the policy...I wish the states in the US would simply get on the same page and abolish the practice. The countries that have the death penalty don't make for good company.

Look, I get the emotional thing about wanting the death penalty for especially horrendous crimes. I feel the same thing when I hear about them. If the victims were people close to me, I imagine that feeling would be times 1000. But when cooler heads prevail, it's better not to do it.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Jingthing

[Andaman Al]

31 minutes ago, hdkane said:

I really like the idea of the death penalty...it's about retribution, which I think is a reasonable goal...but you are right on all points...it's more expensive to execute a convict, and even more humane than being in prison for natural life...life in confinement is a far worse punishment than painless death...so I tend to find myself against the policy...I wish the states in the US would simply get on the same page and abolish the practice. The countries that have the death penalty don't make for good company.

Agreed.

 

4% of prisoners executed in the USA turn out to be innocent of their crimes. So if Texas has carried out 542 executions that is at least 21 people were innocent. Some studies put the figure higher, I have taken numbers from the universally accepted figures that are on the low end of the scale.

 

4% is too many. It is the people in first world countries that cry out for the death penalty that are the ones that are IQ challenged. In fact if your country carries out the death penalty it should not be termed a 'first world country'.

[Trouble]

Let the jury decide death or not and if in the end the courts decide the verdict is just let the victims family be the final say. Thumbs up or down. Seems like if my relative's head was blasted with a shotgun in a robbery, I might not have too much sympathy for the guy that did it. It is true we do not want to execute innocent people but with forensic evidence, etc. these days there is less and less chance of convicting innocents.  Would like to know the old way Texas measured the guy's IQ and the new way to measure it.  

[kamahele]

16 hours ago, Srikcir said:

With a majority of defendants being white since 1976.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976

 

Well that would make sense seeing as whites make up the majority of the population and commit a majority of crimes in America. However, blacks / other minorities are  likely to receive a harsher sentence than whites when convicted.

[bannork]

If the convict  (would have)voted for Trump  that would be a sure sign of low intelligence.

[true word]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

IQ of 70 was "within the range of mild mental retardation."

 

I never took an IQ test but if I let's say score 80 or below I am mentally retarded.

[true word]

43 minutes ago, true word said:

I never took an IQ test but if I let's say score 80 or below I am mentally retarded.

I scored 94

[mrwebb8825]

So, who do you think had/has a better understanding of the constitution, those in power in the late 1700's, early 1800's or those in power now?

 

Interesting debate here: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-viii?gclid=Cj0KEQjw2fLGBRDopP-vg7PLgvsBEiQAUOnIXP4Ml5Buua7MlngnZxi0x0bCscswGDUmyL7dCwBLelIaAvfY8P8HAQ

[retarius]

Somehow I cant get too excited about the death penalty. All I really want to make sure is that the accused is actually guilty….and that is the problem in the US with poor prisoners given inexperienced pro bono lawyers and exculpatory evidence being withheld from the defense. 

[mrwebb8825]

On 3/29/2017 at 5:04 PM, Jingthing said:

and in the U.S. system executing someone is MUCH more expensive than prison for life.

so, you're saying that a 50 cent bullet or a $10 syringe full of painkillers and poison is MUCH more expensive that say $167,731 to feed, house and guard each inmate per year?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/nyregion/citys-annual-cost-per-inmate-is-nearly-168000-study-says.html

"The Vera Institute of Justice released a study in 2012 that found the aggregate cost of prisons in 2010 in the 40 states that participated was $39 billion. The annual average taxpayer cost in these states was $31,286 per inmate. New York State was the most expensive, with an average cost of $60,000 per prison inmate.Aug 23, 2013"

[ilostmypassword]

57 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

so, you're saying that a 50 cent bullet or a $10 syringe full of painkillers and poison is MUCH more expensive that say $167,731 to feed, house and guard each inmate per year?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/nyregion/citys-annual-cost-per-inmate-is-nearly-168000-study-says.html

"The Vera Institute of Justice released a study in 2012 that found the aggregate cost of prisons in 2010 in the 40 states that participated was $39 billion. The annual average taxpayer cost in these states was $31,286 per inmate. New York State was the most expensive, with an average cost of $60,000 per prison inmate.Aug 23, 2013"

Now that you've done some of your homework, why not try doing the rest?  Google what it costs to try death penalty cases vs. other cases and what it costs to house death penalty prisoners vs. other prisoners.

[mrwebb8825]

Just now, ilostmypassword said:

Now that you've done some of your homework, why not try doing the rest?  Google what it costs to try death penalty cases vs. other cases and what it costs to house death penalty prisoners vs. other prisoners.

the debate wasn't about "Trying" anybody. It IS about the cost of keeping them alive IN prison for 50+ yrs vs. just executing them as sentenced.

[ilostmypassword]

34 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

the debate wasn't about "Trying" anybody. It IS about the cost of keeping them alive IN prison for 50+ yrs vs. just executing them as sentenced.

Maybe the debate you're having with yourself. I don't see it elsewhere.

[Andaman Al]

4 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

the debate wasn't about "Trying" anybody. It IS about the cost of keeping them alive IN prison for 50+ yrs vs. just executing them as sentenced.

But the cost of keeping a death penalty prisoner 'alive in prison' must include all of the costs associated with the legal representation he/she must receive, AND the additional resources required to house and supervise them. How can you not see that. It is nowhere near as simple as a '50 cent bullet' or a '10 USD syringe full of pain killers' as you put it a few posts up.

[Jingthing]

5 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

the debate wasn't about "Trying" anybody. It IS about the cost of keeping them alive IN prison for 50+ yrs vs. just executing them as sentenced.

Wrong, dude.

You made that up and now you're busted for pushing a ridiculous narrative.

OF COURSE, it's implicit, that the comparison of costs to taxpayers includes all costs involved in the state carrying out an execution including all legal expenses vs. the lifetime cost of incarceration. Yes, in many nations, you know the kind that just shoot people without trial, of course state murder would be much cheaper. I'm sure there are many Americans that would love the USA to become more like those kinds of barbaric regimes ... but really, the USA is already barbaric enough, considering the ridiculously high incarceration rates and "for profit" prisons.