WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court agreed to hear two Texas death penalty cases in the next term that raise questions about intellectual disability and delays in execution.
In the case of Moore vs. Texas, the court is asked to determine whether the state of Texas uses obsolete standards in determining if a defendant's intellectual disability makes him ineligible for the death penalty. The court will also determine whether a convict can remain incarcerated for more than 35 years after being sentenced to death without violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Bobby J. Moore has been on death row since 1980 for the shooting and killing of a Houston supermarket clerk, James McCarble, during a robbery.