A North Texas man on death row for a slaying almost 19 years ago is mentally impaired, meaning he may not be executed, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The 2-1 decision from a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came in the case of Eric Lynn Moore, 42, one of four men convicted of the December 1990 murder of Helen Ayers during a robbery at her home in Prosper, about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Moore and a companion, Kenneth Eugene Bruce, were condemned for the attack on Ayers, 54, whose husband also was shot and seriously wounded. Bruce was executed in 2004.

Moore's lawyer raised claims he was mentally impaired when they won a delay of his scheduled execution in May 2003, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to put to death mentally impaired people.

His case since then has bounced around the appeals courts as his lawyers and state attorneys argued over his mental status.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the argument. U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis gave him a hearing and found he should not be executed. Prosecutors appealed to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit and won a ruling from a court panel on procedural grounds. Moore's lawyers appealed to the full court, which reversed the three-judge panel and sent it back.

"After we had the hearing with the full court, they directed us back to the original panel to evaluate whether Judge Leonard Davis evaluated the evidence under the correct standard," Thomas Scott Smith, Moore's lawyer, said Monday. "It was basically: Was the evidence sufficient or was there clear error to reverse it? And the two judges said the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of retardation.

"That's the status. As of this moment, Eric has won. He's been determined to be retarded."

The appeals court panel said Davis was in a better position than they were "to judge the credibility of the witnesses who testified on the extent, duration and causes of Moore's intellectual and adaptive functioning limitations."

Appeals Judge Jerry Smith, in a 32-page dissent that was twice as long as the court's decision, called the majority ruling "intellectually sluggish" and chastised his colleagues on the court for using "haphazardly-applied standards of review, casually-read caselaw, and superficially-scrutinized evidence."

"Here, they result in shallow analysis and the wrong result," Smith wrote.

At Moore's court hearing, friends, relatives, classmates and teachers testified he couldn't complete schoolwork and perform basic tasks until he was 18, couldn't properly dress himself or tie his shoes and had difficulty learning to speak in sentences. Prosecutors argued Moore could have improved if he had tried.

At least one psychological test put Moore's IQ below 70, generally considered the threshold for mental impairment. Other tests, however, had his IQ over 70. Prison records show he got through the 11th grade.

Moore was arrested a few days later. 

If you or a love one has been wrongfully convicted, FIGHT BACK! Contact an Appellate attorney at the Zendeh Del Law Firm today.