Robby Moore Supreme Court Case

In April of 1980, Bobby James Moore of Harris County Texas murdered a 73 year old store owner, James McCarble, in an attempted robbery. After the court hearings, Bobby Moore was sentenced to death in July of 1980, but has been sitting on death row until now. The court has recently brought his case up again to determine if the death sentence was ethic and correct for his circumstance. Five of the current Supreme Court justices have agreed that Moore should not be given the death sentence because he was intellectually disabled. Bobby Moore’s lawyer argued in defense of Moore saying that when he was given the death penalty that they were using an outdated definition of intellectual disability. Clifford Sloan, the lawyer, says that if the court would have used the updated definition, Moore would have fit into the definition and would not have been given the death penalty.

They have left it up to the state to enforce it and in some cases it is not always enforced. However the state always has to determine if the criminal is legally intellectually disabled or if they are just trying to work around the governmental system. In this case, there are many pieces of evidence that could help to prove Moore’s mental disability, but some lack significance and reliability. Moore’s father was known to call him ‘stupid’ as a child because he had trouble speaking. They also said he was separated from his classmates because the teachers thought he was incapable of staying on track with the class. Lastly, he was hit on the head with a brick as a child, so this is thought to have caused some mental damage and could cause his intellectual disability. While this evidence seems to have little significance to the case that is being argued, some Supreme Court justices are leaning in Moore’s