April 25 TEXAS;
U.S. High Court Won't Reinstate Death Penalty for Retarded Man The U.S. Supreme Court refused to reinstate the death penalty for a mentally retarded Texas man who was sentenced before the justices barred executions of retarded people in 2002. The justices, acting without comment today in the case of a man convicted of killing a police officer, turned down the state's argument that high court's Atkins v. Virginia decision shouldn't apply to killers who were already sentenced to die when the court ruled. The case concerned Alberto Valdez, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1988 for the shooting death of Corpus Christi police officer Joseph D. Bock the previous year. A Texas state appeals court last year upheld a trial judge's conclusion that Valdez was retarded and ordered his sentence commuted to life in prison. The Atkins decision barred executions of retarded people as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. The 6-3 decision said a ``national consensus'' had emerged against the practice. The Texas appeal contended that no such consensus existed 14 years earlier when Valdez was sentenced. Valdez opted not to file a response with the nation's highest court in Washington. The case is Texas v. Valdez, 04-1287. (source: Bloomberg News)
