Washington D.C., Jun 8, 2016 / 14:42 pm
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review the death sentence of a man whom lawyers claim is intellectually disabled, in a case that could decide how states administer the death penalty.
"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to review the standard Texas has been wrongfully using to determine intellectual disability and eligibility for execution," said Karen Clifton, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network. The organization is working with the U.S. bishops' conference to end the use of the death penalty in the U.S.
"It is important to protect the most vulnerable from this type of punishment but we look forward to the day when the death penalty is declared unconstitutional once and for all," Clifton continued.
The case, Moore v. Texas, is a challenge to the death sentence of Bobby James Moore, convicted in 1980 of robbing a grocery store and killing an employee, and convicted again in 2001 on a retrial. His lawyers say he is intellectually disabled by today's medical standards.