12 April 2023 :
(APRIL 5, 2023) - Texas House passes bill barring the death penalty for some mentally ill defendants
Similar measures passed in the House before, only to fall flat in the more conservative Senate chamber
In a state where mental illness is prevalent on death row, the Texas House of Representatives has again passed a measure to bar the death penalty for some people with severe mental illnesses.
House Bill 727, by state Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, finally passed the chamber Wednesday on a 97-48 vote, a week after the measure was tentatively passed. The bill’s final version precludes the death penalty for defendants diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Similar measures passed out of the House in the last 2 legislative sessions (2017, 2019), only for them to fall flat in the more conservative chamber.
U.S. Supreme Court precedent prohibits states from executing people who don’t have a “rational understanding” of why the state plans to kill them, but it does not specifically ban killing those with severe mental illness, as it does those with intellectual disabilities.
The legislation addresses only future capital murder defendants, meaning it would not alter the sentences of those who have already been convicted.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where its future is uncertain.
