Supreme Court set to hear Texas death row case

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case involving a Texas death row inmate whose sentence was stayed after a late-stage claim of intellectual disability was filed. The dispute centers on whether federal courts can accept new evidence in a second habeas petition.

Dexter Johnson was convicted of capital murder for the 2006 killing of Maria Aparece, who was 23 years old at the time. His execution was originally scheduled for May 2019, but a federal court paused the process after his legal team raised the disability claim. The claim had not been presented during his initial trial.

The legal argument relies on changes in medical standards over the past two decades. Ethan Nutter, a lawyer who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, stated that the medical community’s understanding of intellectual disability has shifted. He noted that under current definitions, Johnson meets the criteria for the disability. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that executing individuals with intellectual disabilities is unconstitutional.

Johnson’s attorneys cited the 2013 update to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. The update removed a rigid IQ threshold in favor of a standard focused on adaptive functioning deficits. A trial expert withdrew the previous basis for rejecting a diagnosis, and two additional experts concluded that Johnson is intellectually disabled under this new framework.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Correctional Institutions asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision in February 2026. The department argued that the lower court’s ruling erases strict limits on claims based on new evidence. Their brief stated 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 has an interest in seeing justice carried out for his daughter. They added that he wants to ensure no other family endures decades of excessive delays in obtaining justice.

The court is expected to issue a decision by June 2027. The justices are deciding a specific procedural issue regarding second or successive habeas petitions, rather than the merits of Johnson’s case alone.