The Supreme Court set aside a death sentence on Tuesday for a Texas inmate who as a 13-year-old could not tell time or name the days of the week, concluding he should not be executed in light of his mental disability. At issue was whether Moore had a mental disability that would make his execution "cruel and unusual punishment" under the 8th Amendment. The justices banned states from executing prisoners with a mental disability, but they left states some flexibility to set the standards. The Texas courts reexamined his sentence after the high court abolished capital punishment in 2002 for defendants with a mental disability. A state judge listened to experts and set aside Moore's death sentence, But the state's criminal appeals court disagreed.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 28, 2017 17:17 UTC