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Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ban, Texas still sends mentally retarded people to the execution chamber. Now, one Mexican immigrant's case could change this.
Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, says "the gamesmanship is this: I can make you hate this guy so much that you won't care if he's mentally retarded."
In the absence of legislative guidelines, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wrote "temporary judicial guidelines" that have guided Texas courts ever since. In its Briseño decision, the court called clinical definitions of mental retardation, like those used by the U.S. Supreme Court, "exceedingly subjective." Texas added its own set of additional criteria in the form of seven questions, including: "Did the commission of that offense require forethought, planning and complex execution of purpose?" If a defendant didn't address these questions to the court's satisfaction, he could be eligible for execution even if his test scores showed he was mentally disabled.
Originally posted by metalholic
reply to post by franspeakfree
the mentally retarded deserve equal rights to! we mentally capable people arent the only ones special enough to get the death sentence i mean come on!
Originally posted by metalholic
reply to post by franspeakfree
yeah i was agreeing with you but i was putting it more in a sarcastic joke manner!
During his trial in 1996, prosecutors repeatedly played the videotape showing Daniel ruthlessly killing Mahbubani.