Court rejects Texas appeal in murder case
admin March 8th, 2010
The Supreme Court is turning down Texas’ attempt to get a death sentence re-imposed on a convicted killer, Eric Moore, who lower courts have found is mentally impaired.
The justices rejected the state’s appeal on Monday in Moore’s case. Moore is one of four men convicted of the December 1990 murder of Helen Ayers, 54, during a robbery at her home north of Dallas.
The high court ruled in 2002 that mentally retarded defendants may not be executed. The state disputes that Moore is mentally retarded and also says federal courts should have deferred to state judges who ruled that he could be executed.
Moore and three accomplices went to the Ayers’ home and complained of having car trouble. They were all invited inside the home by Ayers’ husband Robert, 53.
The men pulled guns and the couple was forced into their bedroom, where they were both shot twice. Mrs. Ayers, who was shot in the head and leg, died. Her husband was shot twice in the back, but survived. The men robbed the couple of $10 and some inexpensive jewelry.
The case is Thaler v. Moore, 09-627
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