The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Texas death row inmate LaRoyce Smith even though they had reviewed his case once before. On October 6, 2006, the Court granted certiorari to decide whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had applied the wrong standard after the Supreme Court had sent Smith’s case back to them earlier.

The dispute does not involve Smith’s 1991 conviction for the murder of a Taco Bell manager in Dallas. Rather the Supreme Court held (7-2) in 2004 that Texas’ jury instructions did not allow the jury sufficient latitude to consider Smith’s low IQ and other mitigating evidence. But instead of giving Smith a new sentencing hearing, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in March that the fault in the jury instructions was negligible because it did not cause “egregious harm” to Smith’s right to a fair trial, and thus upheld Smith’s death sentence. Texas has changed the way the jury is instructed in capital cases, but the change was not in effect for Smith’s sentencing.

Four former federal appeals court judges submittied an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to take the case a second time. The case is Smith v. Texas, No. 05-11304.
(Associated Press, Oct. 6, 2006). See Supreme Court.