Opinion ID: 179034
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lynda Tussay

Text: Esparza called Lynda Tussay to testify. Tussay is a licensed professional counselor and has a master’s degree in Human Development and Counseling. Tussay interviewed Esparza and administered intelligence tests. She testified that the range of mental retardation was a 70 I.Q. or lower. Esparza scored a 71 (standard error of plus or minus 5 points) on the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Test. With respect to the Revised Minnesota Paper Formboard Test, Esparza scored a 73 (standard error of plus or minus 4 points). Tussay explained that the above two scores were within the range of borderline intellectual functioning. On the achievement tests, Esparza was at the level of first grade math and below the level of first grade on this spelling test. On another spelling test, he scored at the level of grade 6.3. Esparza’s vocabulary was at a grade level of 6.2, and his reading comprehension was at a 4.7 grade level. Tussay also administered the Comprehensive Trail-Making Test, and Esparza scored better than 58 percent of the population. On that test, a score of under 40 percent would indicate mental retardation. With respect to the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Esparza scored 25.82, which is nearly 5 Case: 10-70009 Document: 00511289378 Page: 6 Date Filed: 11/09/2010 No. 10-70009 four full standard deviations below the mean, which is 48.43. Tussay testified that the score indicates “a person who does not do well with any kind of form of written language.” The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale Test is a questionnaire for the caregiver of the person being tested regarding the subject’s developmental history. Tussay explained that this test is the “essential measure, the one that most psychologists use when using the adaptive behavior scales.” She administered the test to Esparza’s older sister, Esther Moncado, who was Esparza’s primary caregiver when he was a child. The mean score is 100, and Esparza’s score was below 20, which is the “lowest score” possible. Tussay further testified that she “can usually tell when someone is trying to not do a good job. That wasn’t what he was trying to do.” In her opinion, “there was no deliberate sabotage on his part. He just did not understand. He just didn’t understand what I was trying to tell him.” In Tussay’s opinion, Esparza “meets all of the criteria for mental retardation.” During the cross examination of Tussay, the prosecutor produced two of Esparza’s penitentiary packets, which included the Texas Department of Corrections Social and Criminal History page. The first packet provided that in 1985 Esparza had an I.Q. score of 86. The second packet provided that in 1993 Esparza had an I.Q. score of 88. After reviewing the packets, Tussay testified that she could not “formulate an opinion based on” them because she did “not know what they based their tests on.” The packets did not provide what specific tests were administered to Esparza. She also admitted that Esparza heard from his lawyer that if he was mentally retarded, then the Supreme Court’s decision in Atkins would bar his execution. Additionally, Tussay testified that during her interview of Esparza she noticed that Esparza was “able to speak very well.” She discovered that his family had done migrant farm work and thus “he was not really ever very rooted 6 Case: 10-70009 Document: 00511289378 Page: 7 Date Filed: 11/09/2010 No. 10-70009 in any one school.” Esparza had been in special education classes and failed the ninth grade three times before dropping out of high school. Tussay also stated that Esparza told her that he failed the test for a GED but that the instructor issued a GED so that the instructor would be compensated. Tussay also spoke with Esparza’s older sister who indicated that Esparza had a “history of adaptive problems.” His sister had “difficulty in teaching him how to tie his shoes, how to dress himself. It took longer and he was older before he was able to attain those skills.” Esparza did not “play like the other children.” For example, he did not develop “imaginary games.”