Criminal LawDeath PenaltyFeatured
Diagnosed Too Late: Evolving Clinical Standards and Successive Habeas After Guerrero v. Johnson
November 13, 2026By Fanny Stevens
In August 2019, just a week before his scheduled execution, Dexter Johnson asked the Fifth Circuit for permission to file a second federal habeas petition. His only claim was based on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision holding that the Eighth Amendment bars the execution of people with intellectual disabilities.[i] Yet Atkins offered Johnson […]