Twelve years ago, Robert Sparks told police he killed his wife and two stepsons, ages 10 and 9, by repeatedly stabbing them in their Dallas home in the middle of the night. He then confessed to raping his 12- and 14-year-old stepdaughters.

He told investigators his family had been poisoning him; he wanted to be tested for poison and for the girls to undergo polygraph tests, according to court records. He said a voice told him to kill his family.

On Wednesday, Sparks, now 45, is set to be executed in the deaths of his stepsons, Raekwon Agnew and Harold Sublet Jr. Texas officials say his execution for the heinous crime should not be delayed, but Sparks’ attorneys filed multiple appeals within the last month.

They fought for more time and resources to fully prepare a filing arguing that Sparks is intellectually disabled, which would legally bar him from execution. And they have continued to contend his trial was tainted by false testimony and a bailiff who wore a tie with a syringe on it during jury deliberations.

“Without a stay of execution, it is likely that Texas will execute an intellectually disabled man,” Sparks’ attorney, Jonathan Landers, wrote in a recent federal district court filing.

That appeal, along with those filed in state court and the federal appellate court, has been rejected. Final requests to stop his execution reside within the U.S. Supreme Court chambers.

Sparks has been diagnosed as psychotic with delusions and with schizoaffective disorder, according to court records. At his trial, Dallas County prosecutors detailed how Sparks called police after the murders and later confessed on tape to killing the boys, as well as his wife, Chare Agnew. According to WFAA-TV, Sparks said he had been recording his family because he thought they were poisoning him, and he threatened to kill Agnew if he found out she had been.

When everyone was asleep in September 2007, he stabbed his wife 18 times in their bed, court records state. He then woke the boys and stabbed them repeatedly — Harold at least 45 times.

At the trial, emotions ran high. The court was disrupted several times by Harold’s father, who jumped up and ran toward Sparks when attorneys detailed how his son died, according to court records. A large blade found in the gallery disrupted court proceedings one day. And closing arguments were delayed in the guilt phase of the trial after Sparks apparently tried to kill himself, The Dallas Morning News reported. Ultimately, he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in December 2008.

In recent court filings, Sparks’ attorneys asked for funds to hire a neuropsychologist to determine if Sparks was intellectually disabled. They said things like an IQ score of 75 (a borderline number for the disability), his struggle in special education classes, and poor learning and memory indicate a strong possibility Sparks would be ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent that forbids execution of the intellectually disabled.

Intellectual disability is often discussed in Texas death penalty cases since the U.S. Supreme Court slammed Texas for a second time in February and invalidated its method of determining whether a death penalty inmate is disabled. Sparks’ lawyers said the appeal wasn’t brought forward earlier because Texas’ old method of determining intellectual disability was more restrictive than current medical standards. They argued that now Sparks’ low functioning, in addition to his borderline IQ of 75, “necessitates a full intellectual disability analysis.”

A federal district court judge denied the request for funds and a stop to his execution last month. U.S. District Judge David Godbey said Sparks already had a full analysis before trial, when his IQ score was given, and he was not deemed intellectually disabled. An appellate court also rebuked Sparks for first raising the claim of intellectual disability months before his execution.

In final filings before the U.S. Supreme Court, Sparks’ argument hinges on behavior at his trial. His lawyers say false testimony from a witness and a bailiff’s wardrobe affected the jury.

Sparks’ lawyers said a state witness falsely claimed at trial that if sentenced to life in prison instead of death, Sparks would automatically be inserted into lower-security housing, providing the chance to eat and socialize with other inmates. Sparks’ attorneys said this influenced the jury to lean toward a death sentence and that it was likely he would have been in more restrictive custody based on his previous jail disciplinary action.

They also said his right to a fair trial and impartial jury were denied when a bailiff, Bobby Moorehead, wore a homemade tie depicting a syringe on the day the jury began weighing Sparks’ sentence. Moorehead sat directly behind Sparks, within view of the jury. He later admitted the tie was to show his support for the death penalty, according to Sparks’ filing.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office said the custody level testimony was corrected on cross examination to acknowledge Sparks could have had more restrictions and argued that the initial statements don’t outweigh the viciousness of his crime. It also argued that Sparks can’t prove any jurors even saw Moorehead’s tie and that the public’s interest lies in executing Sparks’ sentence.

“Certainly, the State has a strong interest in carrying out a death sentence imposed for a horrific capital murder wherein Sparks murdered two children and raped two more,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Ellen Stewart-Klein.

Unless the high court or Gov. Greg Abbott halts his execution, Sparks will become the seventh person executed in Texas in 2019 and the 16th in the nation. Seven more men are set for execution in Texas this year.

Source: Texas Tribune Blue Left News