Good news! The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has stayed the execution of Ramiro Ibarra, ordering that his mental disability be verified. In fact, sentencing a person with such frailty to death violates the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
The court issued its ruling on Wednesday, Feb. 24, ordering a lower court to review the merits of the arguments used for the death sentence. The court must also review the reliability of the evidence used to convict Ramiro in light of new scientific findings on DNA testing. Ramiro Ibarra is now 66 years old and was sentenced to death in 1997. He was scheduled to be executed on March 4, after spending 23 years on death row.
In this early 2021 Ramiro Ibarra is the third death row inmate with a scheduled execution date who has received a stay from the State of Texas.
We thank everyone who signed the appeal and helped promote more humane justice.