Governor Bush did not support a bill to ban the execution of the mentally retarded which failed to pass the Texas legislature in 1999. He also vetoed a bill in 1999 which sought to raise the standard of legal representation for low-income defendants. Background Brian Roberson, black, was sentenced to death for the 1986 killing of an elderly white couple in Dallas County. The prosecutor at his trial systematically removed African Americans from the jury pool, indicating that they were not educated enough to sit on a jury. At the trial of Oliver Cruz, a Latino accused of the rape and murder of Kelly Donovan, white, the prosecutor argued for execution on the grounds that Cruz's learning disability made him more of a threat to society.
International standards oppose the death penalty for the mentally impaired.
In yet another blatant example of the lottery of US capital justice, Cruz's white co-defendant, charged with the same murder, received a prison term in exchange for testimony against Cruz. Studies have repeatedly shown that the US capital justice system places a higher value on white life. Over 80 per cent of the more than 650 people executed in the USA since 1977 were convicted of crimes involving white victims. You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the list subscription message may be removed.