NEW: After Texas death row inmate Steven Butler’s lawyers spent almost 2 decades saying he was too intellectually disabled to execute, yesterday prosecutors finally agreed he should not be on the row.
Now, it’s in the court’s hands. Here’s the filing: documentcloud.org/documents/2106…
Now, it’s in the court’s hands. Here’s the filing: documentcloud.org/documents/2106…
Butler was convicted of a 1986 killing at a dry cleaner, and has been on death row since 1988 -- much of that time in near-total isolation. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
Tests show his IQ is between 67 and 77. He’s been unable to balance a checkbook, obey common signs or fill out basic paperwork on his own: 
He also had some erratic behavior during trial, talking to himself and accusing his lawyers of conspiring against him.
He first raised his intellectual disability claims in 2003, and the court held a hearing but said he was not ID. A few years later they reconsidered because of the use of a since-discredited expert witness for the state.
But the court said no that time, too. Then came the Moore case, which forced Texas (over AG Ken Paxton’s objection) to update its standards for evaluating intellectual disability. chron.com/news/houston-t…
Since, then Butler's case has move slow due in part to COVID - but when the state’s new expert evaluated him, the expert said he DOES have such intellectual disability that he should not be executed.
The Harris County DA said ok, and sided with the defense in asking for Butler to be considered ID.
That won’t mean he walks free, but it could mean that he gets off death row – if the trial court judge and the CCA agree.
That won’t mean he walks free, but it could mean that he gets off death row – if the trial court judge and the CCA agree.
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