Supreme Court Set to Hear Dexter Johnson Death Penalty Case
The justices will decide if a late-filed claim of intellectual disability can halt an execution scheduled for May 2019.
By James Brooks ·
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday regarding the sentence of Dexter Johnson, a Texas death row inmate. The central conflict involves a claim of intellectual disability that was not raised during Johnson's initial trial. His legal team argued that changes in medical understanding since his conviction warrant a review of his status.
Johnson was convicted of capital murder for the 2006 killing of 23-year-old Maria Aparece. He was originally scheduled for execution in May 2019. A federal court stayed that date after reviewing the new challenge. Ethan Nutter, a lawyer who filed an amicus brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, noted that the medical community's view on intellectual disability has shifted over the last two decades.
Nutter stated that Johnson meets the current definition of the condition. He added that the Supreme Court has previously ruled it unconstitutional to execute individuals with intellectual disabilities. Johnson's attorneys filed the claim days before his 2019 execution date. They cited the 2013 release of the DSM-5, which replaced rigid IQ thresholds with a focus on adaptive functioning deficits. Under this new framework, two additional experts concluded Johnson is intellectually disabled.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit's decision in February 2026. In their brief, the department argued that the lower court's holding erases strict limits on claims based on new evidence. They also wrote that for the families of victims, justice delayed is justice denied.
Protasio Aparece, the father of the victim, filed his own amicus brief. His legal team wrote that Protasio wants to ensure justice is carried out for his daughter and that no other family suffers decades of excessive delays. The procedural question before the court is whether a federal judge can address a second or successive habeas petition.
Nutter described the issue as narrow, focusing on the court's authority to hear the specific type of petition. The court is expected to issue a decision in the case by June 2027.
