U.S. Supreme Court rules for Texas death row inmate for second time
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday for a second time ruled in favor of a black death row inmate from Texas whose lawyers have said is intellectually disabled and therefore exempt from capital punishment.
The high court ruled 6-3 that a Texas appeals court in June 2018 did not consider the case in the correct manner when the matter returned to it following the justices first intervention in 2017.
Bobby Moore, 59, was convicted at age 20 of fatally shooting an elderly grocery store clerk during a 1980 robbery in Houston. He won his previous case at the high court in 2017 when the justices ruled 5-3 that he should get another chance to show evidence of his disability.
The unsigned ruling said that the Texas courts ruling that left the death sentence intact rests upon analysis too much of which too closely resembles what we previously found improper.
U.S. FEBRUARY 19, 2019 / 9:59 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-deathpenalty/u-s-supreme-court-rules-for-texas-death-row-inmate-for-second-time-idUSKCN1Q81TF
Short article. No more at link yet.
Princess Turandot
(4,787 posts)Alito wrote a dissent, joined by Thomas and Gorsuch. It's on page 12 of the orders:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/021919zor_2dp3.pdf
wryter2000
(46,076 posts)They were the three. And Roberts and Kavanaugh voted with the liberals.
I have hope for Roberts, to tell you the truth. He voted for the ACA. This is "his" court, and he may not want it to be a debacle.
NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)but marginally better on some other issues.
Cirque du So-What
(25,962 posts)he will recall that many nazi jurists received life sentences in the (Nuremburg) Judges' trial.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)of religion. They recently decided a Christian priest was sufficient for final counsel even though the condemned wasn't Christian.
As an atheist, I see this as ignoring the Establishment Clause and favoring a Christian theocratic state, just as with Hobby Lobby.
wryter2000
(46,076 posts)Definitely in violation of the first amendment.
oldsoftie
(12,583 posts)oldsoftie
(12,583 posts)Its always pulled out as a last resort. And in SO many cases. Which is an insult to the truly disabled, who are very, very rarely violent people.
Guilty or not?
Cold War Spook
(1,279 posts)If they are mentally disabled I doubt that they are making the decisions.