No. 21-466

Eric DeWayne Cathey v. Texas

Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: 2021-09-28
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (1)
Tags: capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability medical-criteria medical-standards precedent supreme-court-precedent
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw DueProcess Punishment
Latest Conference: 2022-02-18
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals contravened the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and this Court's precedents in rejecting a trial court's conclusion that an individual is intellectually disabled and therefore may not be put to death by the state

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED This petition, like those in Moore v. Texas, 137 S. Ct. 1039 (2017) (“Moore I’), and Moore v. Texas, 1398S. Ct. 666 (2019) (“Moore II’), arises from a decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) rejecting a trial court’s conclusion that an individual is intellectually disabled and therefore may not be put to death by the state. In Moore J, this Court vacated the TCCA’s decision, concluding that the TCCA’s framework for assessing _ intellectual disability impermissibly disregarded medical criteria in favor of lay analysis. On remand, the TCCA—employing essentially the same reasoning Moore I rejected— reinstated the sentence this Court had vacated, prompting the Court to summarily reverse. Moore II, 139 8. Ct. at 672. As the Chief Justice (who dissented in Moore I but then concurred in Moore IT) explained, the TCCA’s opinion on remand simply “repeated the same errors” Moore I had already “condemned.” Id. (Roberts, C.J., concurring). In this case, as in both Moore cases, the TCCA again rejected the detailed factfindings and legal conclusions of a state habeas trial court, disregarded medically accepted standards, and determined based on lay analysis that the petitioner is not intellectually disabled. This time, the TCCA did so in less than two pages, citing no medical authority and instead relying overwhelmingly on its own, pre-Moore I opinion rejecting petitioner’s claim. The question presented is whether, in so doing, the TCCA yet again contravened the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and this Court’s precedents. @)

Docket Entries

2022-02-22
Petition DENIED.
2022-01-26
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
2022-01-25
Reply of petitioner Eric DeWayne Cathey filed. (Distributed)
2022-01-06
Brief of respondent Texas in opposition filed.
2021-11-30
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including January 6, 2022.
2021-11-29
Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 7, 2021 to January 6, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-10-28
Brief amici curiae of Constitution Project, et al. filed.
2021-10-21
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 7, 2021.
2021-10-20
Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 28, 2021 to December 7, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-09-24
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 28, 2021)

Attorneys

Constitution Project and National Association of Social Workers Including Its Texas Chapter
Allison Okiyo Watkins MallickBaker Botts L.L.P., Amicus
Allison Okiyo Watkins MallickBaker Botts L.L.P., Amicus
Eric DeWayne Cathey
Layne E. KruseNorton Rose Fulbright US LLP, Petitioner
Layne E. KruseNorton Rose Fulbright US LLP, Petitioner
Texas
Jefferson David ClendeninOffice of the Attorney General of Texas, Respondent
Jefferson David ClendeninOffice of the Attorney General of Texas, Respondent