21 May 2021 :
A divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has vacated Carnell Petetan’s death sentence and remanded his case for a new sentencing hearing at which the jury is to consider his claim of intellectual disability using current diagnostic criteria. In 2014, a jury in McClennan County sentenced Petetan, now 45, to death for the Sept. 23, 2012 murder of his wife, rejecting his claim that was ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. The appeals court upheld the jury’s finding in 2017, applying an overly restrictive definition of intellectual disability that the U.S. Supreme subsequently declared unconstitutional in Moore v. Texas. After Moore was decided, the Texas court granted Petetan’s motion to reconsider his appeal. The court noted that “expert after expert diagnosed Petetan with mild intellectual disability.” Finding that “the evidence was factually insufficient to support the jury’s rejection of the intellectual disability special issue,” it returned the case to the trial court for a new penalty hearing.
