Obie Weathers, III v. Lorie Davis, Director
Opinion
*1026
This case was remanded from the Supreme Court of the United States for reconsideration in light of its decision in
Moore v. Texas
, --- U.S. ----,
BACKGROUND
Obie Weathers III was convicted of the 2000 capital murder of Ted Church and was sentenced to death for that crime. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal,
Weathers v. State,
Weathers sought certiorari from the Supreme Court, urging for the first time that Texas's Briseño factors used as an adjunct to clinical findings of mental retardation were unconstitutional. In light of Moore , the Supreme Court granted his petition and remanded the case to this court for further consideration. We granted a COA and obtained additional briefing from both parties to consider whether the state courts' rejection of Weathers's Atkins claim was reasonable in light of Moore .
In 2016, this court summarized the facts of this case:
After a crime spree involving a string of burglaries, theft, one murder, and one sexual assault of an elderly man over the course of just a few months, one evening in February, 2000, Weathers entered Pierce's Ice House, a tavern in San Antonio, Texas, wielding a handgun and concealing his face with a pillowcase with eyeholes cut out. Weathers informed the patrons that he intended to rob the ice house, but he told the three black men present to remain calm because he only wanted to rob the white individuals. Weathers robbed the white patrons, then ordered a waitress at gun point to empty the cash register. While the waitress was carrying the till to Weathers, she stumbled and Weathers pointed his gun at her head. At this time, one of the bar patrons, Ted Church ... swung at and grabbed Weathers. In the ensuing struggle, Weathers shot Church twice in the head and once in the abdomen. Weathers fled with over two-hundred dollars, but he was apprehended eleven days later and confessed to this and other crimes. Church was rushed to the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries, but he *1027 died weeks later from irreparable damages to his pancreas caused by the gunshot wound.
Weathers
,
This court's 2016 opinion discusses at length Weathers's various appeals and concluded that reasonable jurists could not debate the district court's denial of his
Atkins
-claim. That opinion also examines the facts underlying his contention that the state court inappropriately credited the State's medical expert while discrediting Weathers's expert. This court also noted "the dearth of evidence concerning the third prong of
Briseño
(adopting the AAMR), whether any intellectual disability and adaptive deficits were evident before age 18."
Weathers
,
DISCUSSION
We granted a COA on remand from the Supreme Court, received further briefing, and reviewed the district court's findings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo.
Martinez v. Johnson,
We adhere to this court's previous decision because the Supreme Court has just affirmed that lower courts may not properly apply
Moore
retroactively in habeas corpus to state court decisions that preceded it.
Shoop v. Hill,
Shoop
resolved a circuit split between
Cain v. Chappell
,
Moore
and
Hall
2
(on which Weathers also places some weight) were both decided after the Texas courts rejected Weathers's
Atkins
claim.
Compare
Ex parte Weathers,
*1028
standard that had been used by the state of Florida but never in Texas, simply enunciated "clearly established Federal law" made retroactive as required by AEDPA.
Kilgore v. Sec'y., Fla. Dep't. of Corr.,
Consequently, Shoop bars our considering the applicability of Moore to Weathers's earlier-rejected claim of mental disability. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED .
This court observed that "[t]here was no IQ evidence before Weathers turned 18, and the anecdotal evidence about his pre-adult years was decidedly mixed."
Weathers
,
Hall v. Florida
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Obie D. WEATHERS, III, Petitioner-Appellant v. Lorie DAVIS, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent-Appellee
- Cited By
- 26 cases
- Status
- Published