Arthur Lee Burton, a 54-year-old Texas man, was executed for the 1997 killing of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three who was jogging near her Houston home more than 27 years ago. Burton claimed he had an intellectual disability, but his last-minute attempt at a reprieve was unsuccessful, and he was given a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The execution took place despite Burton’s lawyers arguing that he exhibited significant limitations in intellectual functioning based on expert reports and records.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined a defense request to intervene, and Burton was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. local time. He had confessed to killing Adleman, stating that she asked him why he was doing it and that he didn’t have to do it. However, he recanted this confession at trial, leading to a lengthy legal battle that ultimately ended in his execution.
Prosecutors contended that Burton had not previously raised claims of an intellectual disability and that he had waited until shortly before his scheduled execution to do so. An expert for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office stated that there was no evidence of a significant deficit in Burton’s intellectual or mental capabilities. The Supreme Court has prohibited the execution of intellectually disabled individuals since 2002, but states have some discretion in determining such disabilities.
Burton’s case was marked by legal complexities, including the overturning of his initial death sentence in 2000 and a subsequent retrial in 2002 that resulted in another death sentence. His lawyers accused the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals of showing hostility towards Supreme Court rulings on intellectual disability criteria, while the Texas Attorney General’s Office denied this claim.
Burton’s execution marked the third in Texas this year and the 11th in the United States. The state has a reputation for being the busiest in capital punishment cases. Despite claims of innocence and intellectual disability, several inmates have been executed in Texas this year, including Ramiro Gonzales and Ivan Cantu. In Utah, Taberon Dave Honie is scheduled to be executed for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother, marking the state’s first execution since 2010.
