HOUSTON (AP) - A man on Texas’ death row for nearly 25 years for killing a Houston bank teller is getting his sentence reduced to life in prison after state attorneys told a federal court Wednesday they agree with his lawyers that he’s mentally impaired and ineligible for execution under U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
Robert James Campbell, 44, will be resentenced to life and be eligible for parole because Texas did not yet have life without parole when he was arrested for the 1991 abduction, rape and slaying of 20-year-old Alejandra Rendon.
The Texas attorney general’s office and Campbell’s attorneys submitted a joint recommendation to U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison saying evidence supported a finding that Campbell is intellectually disabled and “falls within the class of offenders the Supreme Court … found ’categorically excluded from execution.’”
According to the court filing, state attorneys believe “further attempts to investigate and litigate this claim would not serve the interests of justice.”
A psychologist selected by the state said tests that showed Campbell’s low IQ, school and medical records and other records all pointed to a diagnosis of “mild intellectual disability.” A test from a defense neuropsychologist put Campbell’s IQ at 69. Courts generally have used an IQ of 70 as the threshold for mental impairment.
“Given the overwhelming evidence of Mr. Campbell’s intellectual disability, it was only a matter of time until the courts reached the same conclusion, and further delay would not have served anyone’s interests,” one of Campbell’s attorneys, Rob Owen of the Northwestern University School of Law, said. “We hope that the family and loved ones of Alejandra Rendon can take some comfort in having this matter finally resolved, and we are profoundly sorry for their terrible loss.”
Rendon was abducted Jan. 3, 1991, while putting gas into her car. She was robbed, raped and shot. She’d been making wedding plans and was buried wearing her recently purchased wedding dress.
Campbell was 18 at the time and on parole after serving four months of a five-year sentence for robbery. Evidence showed Campbell gave Rendon’s coat to his mother and the victim’s watch and high school class ring to his girlfriend.
The victim’s uncle, Israel Santana, said her family believed justice “would have been properly served” with Campbell being put to death.
“Nevertheless, we accept the recent decisions … and we ask for continued prayer for our family after having received this devastating news,” said Santana, a Houston attorney.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted Campbell’s scheduled lethal injection in May 2014 less than three hours before he could have been executed so his lawyers could pursue their claims of his mental impairment.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office wants to ensure Campbell never gets released and will protest at his parole reviews.
“Campbell’s crimes were extraordinarily heinous and vile,” Ogg said.
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