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USA - Texas. Death sentence of Raymond Riles vacated
April 14, 2021: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tosses death sentence of Raymond Riles, state’s longest-serving death row inmate.
Raymond Riles has been on Texas’ death row longer than anyone else, first sent there in 1976. Despite several execution dates being set, he has repeatedly been deemed mentally incompetent to be put to death, instead lingering on the row and the prison’s psychiatric units for more than 45 years. On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tossed his death sentence. The state court sent his case back to Harris County to again determine his punishment because the jury wasn’t instructed to weigh his mental illness when deciding between a punishment of life in prison or death. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which supported tossing the sentence, did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday as to whether the office would again seek the death penalty. His conviction of capital murder is not changed. “We’re very pleased,” said Thea Posel, one of Riles’ attorneys. “It’s clearly established under Texas and U.S. Supreme Court law that Mr. Riles’ death sentence is unconstitutional.” Riles, now 70, was convicted in the 1974 shooting death of John Thomas Henry. Riles and another man were attempting to return a recently purchased car to Henry, a used car dealer, when Riles shot him, according to court records. At trial, Riles claimed insanity, and multiple experts testified that he had paranoid delusions, psychosis and schizophrenia. Relatives noted a long line of severe mental illness in the family. But doctors for the prosecution argued Riles was faking, and the jury rejected the insanity defense.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/14/raymond-riles-texas-death-penalty/ (Source: Texas Tribune, 14/04/2021)
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