Arthur Lee Burton, 54, was executed on Wednesday evening for the brutal 1997 murder of a Houston woman, despite his last-minute claim of intellectual disability. Burton received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, and was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. local time.
Burton was convicted for the July 1997 killing and attempted rape of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three. Adleman was found beaten and strangled with her own shoelace in a heavily wooded area off a jogging trail along a bayou. Burton confessed to the crime, stating, “She asked me why was I doing it and that I didn’t have to do it,” although he later recanted this confession during his trial.
In the hours leading up to his execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Burton’s request for intervention. His defense had sought a stay, arguing that Burton exhibited significant intellectual disabilities, which they claimed should exempt him from the death penalty. They cited reports from two experts, noting Burton’s “low scores on tests of learning, reasoning, comprehending complex ideas, problem-solving, and suggestibility,” as evidence of his intellectual limitations.
Prosecutors countered that Burton had not raised these claims of intellectual disability until just eight days before his scheduled execution. They argued that the evidence provided was not sufficient to support his claims. Thomas Guilmette, a psychology professor at Providence College and an expert for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, stated in an August 1 report that he had not observed any significant deficits in Burton’s intellectual or mental capabilities. “I have not seen any mental health or other notations that Mr. Burton suffers from a significant deficit in intellectual or mental capabilities,” Guilmette reported.
The Supreme Court’s 2002 decision prohibits the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities, but it allows states some discretion in determining these disabilities. Burton, initially convicted in 1998, saw his death sentence overturned in 2000 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He was sentenced to death again in a 2002 retrial.
Burton’s lawyers accused the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals of “hostility” toward prior Supreme Court rulings on intellectual disability, while the Texas Attorney General’s Office denied any refusal to adhere to established criteria.
Burton’s execution was the third in Texas this year, the nation’s leading capital punishment state, and the 11th in the U.S. Ramiro Gonzales was executed last month on what would have been his teenage victim’s 41st birthday. Earlier in the year, Ivan Cantu was put to death despite his claims of innocence. On Thursday, Utah is set to execute Taberon Dave Honie, marking its first execution since 2010.