HUNTSVILLE, Texas, April 23 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court halted the scheduled Wednesday execution of a Texas killer so a court could hear new arguments about whether he is mentally retarded.
Robert Charles Ladd, 46, was to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. for the murder of a mentally disabled Tyler woman in 1996. The stay was issued nine hours before his scheduled execution at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted the stay because of juvenile records uncovered by his attorney that indicate he might be mentally retarded. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the same argument last week.
Sydney Snelling-Young, Ladd's defense attorney, found a psychologist who tested Ladd years ago when he was in a juvenile prison in Gainesville, Texas. His IQ at the time was 67, below the accepted retardation threshold of 70. More recently his score has been 86, according to prison officials.
Prosecutors said Ladd's score of 86, his ability to obtain a graduate equivalency diploma and graduate from barber college prove that he is not mentally retarded.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the execution of mentally retarded killers is unconstitutional. Several Texas cases have been stayed since that ruling to re-examine evidence in old cases to determine if the condemned man was mentally retarded.
Ladd was on parole from another murder conviction in September 1996 when he raped and strangled 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner during a robbery at her Tyler apartment. Her body was set on fire to destroy evidence.
