This Court has reiterated that the Eight Amendment prohibits the execution of a person with a mental disability. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”) have used the seven factors outlined in Briseno instead of using current medical standards to determine if the Petitioner was intellectually disabled. The Atkins decision was intended to protect all person with a mental disability from execution; however, this goal was undermined by the CCA, by incorporating inadequate protective standards leading to the death of those with an intellectual disability. The usage by the CCA of outdated medical standards and the Briseno factor, the Court now holds, creates an unfairness and risk of execution of a person with a mental disability, and thus unconstitutional.
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Prior to the Atkins hearing, Moore’s trial council grossly mishandled presenting evidence of “Moore’s impaired mental functioning as a mitigating factor” according to the federal district court and affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. Again, in 2003, More filed another state habeas petition claiming that the Eight Amendment barred his execution on the grounds that he is intellectually disabled. To prove this claim, he presented testimony of two experts and seven witnesses that all proved he had a form of intellectual and development deficiency along with deficits “in the adaptive domains of socialization, communication and cognition.” Moore failed the first grade twice, but school officials kept advancing him despite being unable to grasp academic skills. Moore’s upbringing present the reasons why he has deficits in his adaptive functioning. Moore’s adolescence was filled with constant physical and mental abuse from his father for exhibiting slow intellectual development. He was eventually removed from the household and ordered never to return “because he wasn’t no son of his [Moore’s father] because he was dumb.” Also, when Moore was twelve, he was “hit in the head with a chain and a brick” making it highly possible for him to have suffered a “traumatic brain
Prior to the Atkins hearing, Moore’s trial council grossly mishandled presenting evidence of “Moore’s impaired mental functioning as a mitigating factor” according to the federal district court and affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. Again, in 2003, More filed another state habeas petition claiming that the Eight Amendment barred his execution on the grounds that he is intellectually disabled. To prove this claim, he presented testimony of two experts and seven witnesses that all proved he had a form of intellectual and development deficiency along with deficits “in the adaptive domains of socialization, communication and cognition.” Moore failed the first grade twice, but school officials kept advancing him despite being unable to grasp academic skills. Moore’s upbringing present the reasons why he has deficits in his adaptive functioning. Moore’s adolescence was filled with constant physical and mental abuse from his father for exhibiting slow intellectual development. He was eventually removed from the household and ordered never to return “because he wasn’t no son of his [Moore’s father] because he was dumb.” Also, when Moore was twelve, he was “hit in the head with a chain and a brick” making it highly possible for him to have suffered a “traumatic brain