Scotuscast

On March 28, 2017, the Supreme Court decided Moore v. Texas, a habeas corpus dispute regarding the scope of the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia that the execution of a mentally disabled person would violate the Eighth Amendment’s proscription on “cruel and unusual punishments.” Bobby James Moore was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for fatally shooting a sales clerk during a failed robbery attempt. Finding Moore to be intellectually disabled under current medical diagnostic standards set forth in the latest editions of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) manual and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and invoking Atkins, a state court recommended granting Moore habeas relief in the form of life imprisonment or a new trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, however, rejected that recommendation based on its 2004 decision in Ex Parte Briseno, which relied on standards set forth in