R.I.P. Robert Moorman

Roman Colosseum lit to protest an execution

Arizona executed Robert Moorman on February 29, 2012, for the 1984 murder and dismemberment of his adoptive mother, Roberta Mormann, a woman who sexually abused Moorman throughout his childhood and into adulthood.

Moorman was born to a 15-year-old girl who drank heavily and engaged in prostitution. His father abandoned him and his mother died at age 17.  He then went to live with his maternal grandparents until he was put up for adoption because of his grandfather’s alcohol abuse.  The clemency board rejected the plea that it would be "unconscionable" to execute Moorman for killing his adoptive mother who subjected him to years of sexual abuse.

Also rejected was Moorman's claim that he should not be executed because of his mental disabilities.   Moorman was diagnosed with mental retardation and attended special education classes while in school.  His first stay at a mental institution occurred when he was 13. The state argued that that Moormann's mental capacity at the time of the killing was just above the legal requirement for mental impairment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed the execution to go forward despite expressing serious concerns about the state's execution procedures, which permitted last minute changes after it was discovered that one of the drugs to be used had expired and was no longer available. 

This is the fifth execution in the United States this year, the first in Arizona.