"Mr. Jordan is an incompetent, brain-damaged person with an IQ that has been assessed at scores of 56 and 60. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, mental retardation and organic brain dysfunction and was known during his trial as Father Nature."
"To date, Mr. Jordan has been on death row for nearly 50 years. Yet, he has not had a lawyer for over 30 years, and has spent that time utterly forgotten and wasting away in a Texas prison."
"Wolff welcomed the ruling, telling the Texas Tribune on Thursday that he was grateful for the outcome. But he said that the case highlighted a troubling truth within the criminal justice system that people most in need of help are often forgotten or cast aside."
Clarence Curtis Jordan, a 70-year-old man with intellectual disabilities, had his death sentence overturned by the Texas court of criminal appeals after nearly 50 years on death row. Convicted in 1978 for murder, Jordan was deemed incompetent for execution under constitutional standards. His case was taken up by attorney Ben Wolff in 2024, who argued that Jordan's situation exemplified failures in the Texas criminal justice system. The court vacated the death sentence, sending the case back for a new punishment proceeding, highlighting systemic issues in legal representation for vulnerable individuals.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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