Appeals Court Grants Stay of Execution in Texas Case
A federal court of appeals ordered Texas to delay Tuesday’s planned execution of Robert James Campbell. Defense attorneys made the motion for a stay of execution based on Campbell’s intellectual disability, according to the New York Times.
According to the defense, state prosecutors withheld evidence that Campbell was “mentally retarded,’’ which is the legal term for intellectual disability. The threshold for retardation is an IQ of “approximately 70,’’ and Campbell’s two IQ tests scored a 68 and a 71, according to the Times.
Justices found those test results were grounds for a stay. From the Times:
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Earlier in the day, the court turned down a defense request for a stay based on Texas’s refusal to disclose the compounded chemicals it will use for the execution, according to the Times.
Campbell and another man, Leroy Lewis, were convicted of raping and killing Alexandra Rendon in 1991.
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