A move to ban the death penalty for defendants with intellectual disabilities that would bring Texas in line with a February U.S. Supreme Court order failed to get final vote before the end of the legislative session after lawmakers couldn't agree on the process for determining intellectual disability.
The Senate version of House Bill 1139, authored by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, removed language prescribing a hearing to determine intellectual disability before the trial. The court ruled in February that the Texas criminal courts' patchwork fix was insufficient.
Removing the hearing defeated the entire purpose of the bill, Thompson told the American-Statesman.
Thompson has pushed for the bill since 2003, but it passed the House for the first time this session, largely because of the court order.
