Federal Court Halts Execution of Texas Killer Robert Campbell
Source: NBC NEWS
A federal appeals court delayed the execution of Texas death row inmate Robert James Campbell two hours before he was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Campell, 41, should have more time to press his argument that a low IQ makes him ineligible for capital punishment.
The panel faulted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for failing to turn over the results of an intelligence test to Campbell's lawyer.
"It is regrettable that we are now reviewing evidence of intellectual disability at the eleventh hour before Campbell’s scheduled execution," the court wrote.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/federal-court-halts-execution-texas-killer-robert-campbell-n104131
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Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)This medieval crap has to end.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)to withhold the IQ evidence, by why the hell didn't the defense get their own psychologist to test him independently? If the guy's IQ was that low, his attorney should have noticed at least the possibility of a cognitive deficit.
TexasTowelie
(112,070 posts)deficit. 
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)but in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with, the public defenders are amazingly diligent, and the state does pay for experts to evaluate defendants. If the Court won't spring for the money, the Public Defender's office does. We don't have the death penalty (for which I'm grateful), but funding is there for experts in any serious felony case where there is a realistic probability of the expert opinion making a difference.
I do know that Texas does have something of a reputation for appointing grossly incompetent and unqualified defense attorneys and shorting on expert funding, but that surely isn't the case everywhere.
chelsea0011
(10,115 posts)against the law to execute him for that very disability? Wouldn't the state have then committed a murder in the 1st degree if they went ahead and killed him? Who would have been charged?
George II
(67,782 posts)...could be charged with CONSPIRACY to commit murder. But we're talking about Texas, so that ain't gonna happen.
Cal33
(7,018 posts)GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)The penalty for prosecutorial malfeasance ought to be identical to the penalty given to the victim of the malfeasance.
JohninPA
(54 posts)DU always seems to neglect the victim of the crime.
Campbell was convicted of the January 1991 abduction and murder of Alexandra Rendon in Houston. Rendon, a Bank One employee, was kidnapped from a Chevron station and driven to a desolate area. Campbell and codefendant Leroy Lewis robbed her of her money and jewelry and then raped her. Random was marched at gunpoint to a field and then told by Campbell to run. Campbell shot once at Rendon's head but missed. He then shot her in the back and left her to die.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)What would "DU" do without you to speak for us?
balthazar2
(37 posts)Last edited Wed May 14, 2014, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)
What does his IQ have to do with anything? I see how it might affect guilt or innocence, but why is it relevant to the penalty? If he's too dumb to understand why he is being executed, then he's too dumb to understand imprisonment for life, or any other penalty, either.
christx30
(6,241 posts)see him locked in a psychiatric facility for the rest of his life. He's a proven danger to people. He might not understand why he's in there, but he can't be trusted to walk the streets.