Texas Inmate Who Spent Nearly 40 Years on Death Row Is Granted Parole

A Texas inmate who spent nearly 40 years on death row and was at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that exempts people with intellectual disabilities from being executed was granted parole on Monday.

The inmate, Bobby Moore, had been sentenced to death in 1980 in the killing of a supermarket clerk during a robbery in Houston.

But last year, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Moore was intellectually disabled after rejecting the state’s methodology for diagnosing intellectual disabilities. The nation’s top court said that the standards used by the state relied too heavily on I.Q. scores and took account of factors rooted in stereotypes.

A Texas appeals court then resentenced Mr. Moore to life in prison in November, making him eligible for parole.

And on Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted in favor of releasing Mr. Moore, 60, who is African-American. The board’s decision was sent in an email by David Gutiérrez, the board’s presiding officer, to a group of state lawmakers.

“I would like to thank each of you for bringing attention to Mr. Moore’s plight to the board,” Mr. Gutiérrez wrote.

In March, more than 20 state lawmakers wrote a letter to the state parole board that sought the release of Mr. Moore. The lawmakers are part of a recently formed Criminal Justice Reform Caucus in the Legislature.

State Representative Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso and co-chairman of the caucus, wrote on Twitter on Monday that the parole board’s decision was “a breath of hope during a very difficult national conversation.”