Brain Injury Lawyer Modesto

Brain Injury Lawyer Modesto

Brain Injury Lawyer Modesto

Posted on: January 11, 2012 - 3:16 am
by Admin

In 2002 a new ruling by the Supreme Court found the execution of mentally disabled people was ‘unconstitutional’ meaning that those of low IQ (usually beneath 70) are spared the death penalty. However campaigners regard the mentally ill as being continually subjected to inappropriate and unjust use of this punishment. The following cases have become infamous;

Ricky Ray Rector

Ricky Ray Rector was executed in 1992 for the killing of a veteran police officer and a passer-by. His first crime occurred when he and his friends were refused entry to a Arkansas dancehall for failing to cough up the fee- Rector’s response to the door being barred against them was to shoot wildly at the front doors, wounding three people, one fatally. He went on the run for several days, before heeding his mother’s request to surrender and consenting to turn himself in to a man he had know all his life, Officer Robert Martin. When Martin arrived and turned away to speak to his mother, Rector fatally shot him. Immediately after this second murder he left the house and shot himself by placing the gun at his temple. He was rushed to hospital and survived the resulting surgery.

Previously a disturbed individual, his failed suicide attempt left him with the understanding of a small child and an IQ of between 63 and 70. The gunshot destroyed the frontal lobes of his brain, resulting in permanent damage. Despite arguments to the contrary by his defense lawyers, he was still declared competent to stand trial. He was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to death for the killing of Officer Martin.