USA - Texas. Appeals court re-sentenced Tomas Raul Gallo to life in prison
April 17, 2024: APRIL 17, 2024 - Texas. Appeals court re-sentenced Tomas Raul Gallo to life in prison because of his intellectual disability. A Harris County jury sentenced Gallo to death for murdering his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter (see HoC February 18, 2004). After Gallo babysat Destiny Flores, the young girl was found with a skull fracture and had been severely sexually assaulted. During his 2004 trial, Gallo’s defense tried to convince jurors that he was intellectually disabled. Today the appeals court acknowledged that he fulfils the requirement. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 banned the use of the death penalty on people with intellectual disabilities based on the Eighth Amendment’s restriction of cruel and unusual punishments.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/17/tomas-gallo-texas-death-row-intellectual-disability/ (Source: Texas Tribune, 17/04/2024)
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