March 4 — Ramiro Ibarra
Ibarra is convicted of strangling and raping a 16-year-old girl who was looking after her two nephews. Ramiro was actually a family acquaintance of her. However, initially, the judge on the case suppressed certain evidence, so Ibarra was released from custody. Changes in the law allowed prosecutors to go after Ibarra nearly 10 years later.
After he was charged, Ibarra filed and lost an appeal, in which he claimed that he was mentally disabled, therefore ineligible for the death penalty. He also argued that he was denied legal assistance following his arrest, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention protections. The Supreme Court rejected this claim.
In a state court hearing, his lawyers argued that Ibarra had an IQ of 65, below the disabled threshold of 70. But the judge conducting the hearing denied this claim after evidence of Ibarra’s IQ came from an unsworn affidavit from a psychologist in Puerto Rico.
Contact the TX governor to pressure him in ending the death penalty:
Read more about his case:
