News / Human Rights

US executes intellectually disabled African-American prisoner

Friday, 30 January 2015 6:43 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 30 January 2015 6:43 AM ]

Robert Ladd, 57, received a lethal injection at the US state of Texas' death chamber in Huntsville, Thursday evening.

An intellectually disabled African-American prisoner has been executed in the US state of Texas, the second in one week.

Robert Ladd, 57, received a lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville on Thursday evening.

Ladd was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner, nearly two decades ago.

The victim was strangled and beaten to death with a hammer. Her body later was set on fire in her apartment.

Ladd’s lawyers have filed a petition at the US Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying he is intellectually disabled with an IQ of 67 and that executing him would be unconstitutional.

The Court, however, denied the reprieve. The court also rejected an appeal that challenged whether the pentobarbital they use to execute him is potent enough to not cause unconstitutional pain and suffering.

Ladd was the 520th prisoner executed in Texas since 1976 when the US Supreme court reinstated the death penalty.

Warren Hill, another African American prisoner, was executed in Georgia on Tuesday. The 54-year-old was serving life in prison for the murder of his partner but was sentenced to death after he fatally beat a fellow prisoner in 1990.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the racial ratio of the victims of the death penalty in the US has been striking since the revival of the practice, with the penalty being disproportionately imposed on blacks and ethnic minorities.

Statistics released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice show that 11 of the 16 executed prisoners in Texas, which has been responsible for nearly 40 percent of all executions in the US since 1976, were African American or Hispanic in 2013.

SB/GJH

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