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Atkins Argumentative Essay

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On April 25th, 1980 Bobby James Moore and two accomplices robbed a grocery store in Houston, Texas. During the robbery, Moore shot and killed the store clerk, a 76-year-old man named James McCarble and was consequently convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Moore appealed in both state and federal habeas relief courts and was granted relief by a federal court in the Fifth Circuit after arguing that precedent established in Atkins v. Virginia applied to his case. The habeas court granted relief based on the Atkins argument but the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, reversed the ruling stating that Moore was not intellectually disabled based on Ex Parte Briseno and a 1992 definition of intellectual disability. In 2014 Moore filed a writ of certiorari arguing that his constitutional rights have been violated within his 8th Amendment protection against “cruel and unusual punishment” and in combination with the 14th Amendment’s due process clause which he believes to have been violated due to the delay of his sentencing, having lasted …show more content…

Virginia and Hall v. Florida however, the appellant’s argument that his longevity on death row is unconstitutional is invalid and does not violate the 8th nor the 14th Amendments of the United States …show more content…

The foremost of those being Atkins v. Virginia which decided that the execution of intellectually disabled people is unconstitutional due to Eight Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. In Atkins v. Virginia the Court emphasized that a person could be considered intellectually disabled if they met three prongs: “sub average intellectual functioning (usually defined as an IQ that is two standard deviations below the mean, generally 70 or below with a 5-point standard error measurement) Significant

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The U.S. Supreme Court argued that execution of an individual with an intellectual disability is inconsistent with the “evolving standards of decency test that marks the progress of a maturing society.” The Court held that there was a “national consensus” forbidding execution of the intellectually disabled from the fact that 18 states of the 38 states that permit capital punishment had recently enacted legislation barring execution of the intellectually disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins observed that the execution of intellectually disabled criminals in the states that permitted it was no longer common and noted that the practice of such executions “has become truly unusual” and that a “national consensus” against it was emerging. This was evident in the public reaction and national attention

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Roper V Simmions, Falls under the 8th amendment cruel and unusual punishment. In Roper V Simmions there was a 17 year old boy with a mental disabitliy who commited a premediated murder was orginally being tried for the death penalty. In this case however there was another individual who did assist in the murder. He wasnt declared “mentally fit” for the trial but some felt his crimes were heneous enough to warrent the death penalty.

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The Supreme Court ordered that such “deliberate indifference” to an inmate 's “serious medical needs” was a violation of that inmate 's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. This case guaranteed three basic rights: the right to access to care, the right to care that is ordered, and the right to professional medical judgment.

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Caption: Brumfield v. Cain, 576 U. S. ____ (2015). In this case, Brumfield, the petitioner, wants the United States Supreme Court to review a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Facts: Kevan Brumfield was convicted of murder of Betty Smothers, and was sentenced to death by a Louisiana court. This court decision was made before ruling that the 8th Amendment prohibits execution of the intellectually disabled under Atkins v. Virginia. Using the Atkins Mandate, in State v. Williams (2001), the Louisiana Supreme Court decided a hearing must take place to decide if Williams was actually intellectually disabled.

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He also acknowledged that by allowing the content of a victim impact statement to influence the jury could lead them to choose the death penalty for reasons which were irrelevant to the defendant's decision to kill. This diverted attention from the facts of the crime. Justice Powell determined that by introducing the emotionally-charged opinions of family members into the case would destroy the reasoned decision-making. This is critical in capital cases. The major factor, in this case, argued if the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution protected a defendant from cruel and unusual punishment.

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In Roper v. Simmons there are two issues that must be addressed, the first being the issue of moral maturity and culpability. The defense in the trial phase of this case argued that Mr. Simmons was an at an age where he was not responsible enough to fully understand the effects and consequences of his actions. The majority draws on Atkins v. Virginia to argue that this specific precedent supports their case that the death penalty should not be imposed on the mentally immature or impaired. However, an important point to be made is that the Atkins v. Virginia decision is geared towards the clinical definition of mental retardation: significant limitations that limit adaptive skills. Also, another important question to consider is the competency and premeditation of Mr. Simmons’ crime in this case.

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What are the facts of the case? Location: York County Court, Virginia Date: Feb. 20th, 2002 Advocates: James W. Ellis and Pamela A. Rumpz Daryl Renard Atkins was charged with murder, armed robbery, abduction. Atkins had one witness, a forensic psychologist, who testified that Atkins was “mildly mentally disabled”.

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57. Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health (1990): Cruzan, in a vegetative state, could not make life decisions for herself and was brain dead so her family attempted to end her life support. The hospital would not allow her to do so because Missouri State law required court approval before terminating life support. Because there is no guarantee that family will always make decisions with best interests at heart in addition to the fact that the Missouri policy was designed to save lives, the SC upheld Missouri’s

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Which resulted in the states changing their death penalty to function with the court ruling. Also, it made the prisons have more economic problems and overpopulated. The death penalty was itself not unconstitutional, but the way it was administered constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Mistakes were made , and the people(courts) tried to avoid more wrong executions.

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The Kennedy v Louisiana was a Supreme Court case dealing with whether or not the Eighth Amendment allowed for the death penalty to be used when a crime did not end in death. The original case dealt with charging Patrick Kennedy with the death penalty for the severe rape of his stepdaughter. The rape left the eight year old girl with profuse vaginal bleeding due to extreme tearing in her vaginal area and anus. Despite the rape being severe and requiring hospitalization for the girl, the court decided that sentencing the death penalty was only for the most extreme cases in which the crime ended with death. It is important to note that his ruling only concerns crimes against individuals rather than state cases.

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In life some feel the need to prove something to others. That they are better, stronger, or even more intelligent. Whatever the case may be people will go through extreme measures to prove themselves. But who do we really need to prove anything to? Is it our parents?

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The Rules of rights from the 8th Amendment ‘’Unless this right to bail before trial is preserved the presumption of innocence secured only after centuries of struggle, would lose its meaning. The U.S supreme court has ruled that this is a Amendment cruel and unusual punishment cause also applies to the states. The court concluded that the death penalty as a punishment for murder does not itself

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John Steinbeck’s character, Lennie Smalls, is not an appropriate factor to be considered when informing and shaping legal outcomes due to his fictional background and lack of modernization. The explicitness of Lennie’s mental disability and his consequences appear less convoluted than those presented by Robert Mackey in “Steinbeck Family Outraged That Texas Judge Cited ‘Of Mice and Men’ in Execution Ruling” and Lane Florsheim in “How Texas Keeps Putting the Intellectually Disabled on Death Row.” Various Texas judges substantiated the execution of handicapped criminals based on a fictional piece of work. John Steinbeck’s piece of literature should be perceived as the 1937 work of fiction he made it out to be.

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In this case, I agree with the majority of the Supreme Court Justice who believe that mandatory life

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