Supreme Court Weighs New Disability Claim
Justices will decide if federal courts can accept late-filed habeas petitions based on updated medical standards for intellectual disability.
By Lucas Sheridan ·
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday regarding whether federal courts can review death penalty sentences when new medical evidence emerges. The case involves Dexter Johnson, a Texas inmate who was convicted of capital murder in 2006 for the killing of 23-year-old Maria Aparece. Johnson’s execution was originally scheduled for May 2019, but a federal court stayed the sentence after his legal team raised a claim of intellectual disability that had not been presented during his initial trial.
The dispute hinges on a 2013 update to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. This revision changed how clinicians assess IQ and adaptive functioning. Johnson’s lawyers argue that under this newer framework, two additional experts concluded he is intellectually disabled, causing his original trial expert to withdraw the premise that previously blocked such a diagnosis. Ethan Nutter, a lawyer filing an amicus brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, stated that the medical community’s understanding of the condition has shifted over the last two decades.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Correctional Institutions asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in February 2026. In its brief, the department argued that the lower court’s decision erases strict limits on claims based on new evidence. The state emphasized that justice delayed is justice denied for the people of Texas and the families of Johnson’s victims. Protasio Aparece, the victim’s father, filed a separate brief stating that his family has suffered decades of excessive delays in obtaining justice and wants to ensure no other family endures the same.
The legal question before the justices is procedural rather than purely substantive. Nutter clarified that the court is deciding whether a federal court can address a second or successive habeas petition. This determination will influence how strictly federal courts must treat prisoners who challenge their sentences with newly available evidence. The case is expected to resolve the tension between finality in death penalty cases and evolving scientific standards for defining intellectual disability.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final decision in the case by June 2027.
