USA - Alabama. Bobby Tarver, 52, black, cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama ruled that Bobby Tarver, 52, black, cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded. Tarver was 21 years old when he was arrested and charged with the December 8, 1981, capital murder of a taxi driver, Percy Gibson . He was sentenced to death in 1982, but his conviction was overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct. At his 2nd trial, the jury rejected the death penalty and handed down a life verdict, but the elected trial judge overruled the jury's decision and sentenced Mr. Tarver to death. He wrote in his sentencing order that the evidence showed Mr. Tarver was "moderately retarded." In 2002, the United States Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia held that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits executing persons with mental retardation (intellectual disability).