Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz

 Reported by Hannah Gorman - CALS Team Member

As one of his outgoing acts of clemency, President Barack Obama commuted the death sentence imposed on Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz. The Amicus brief drafted/co-ordinated with the CALS team and the advocacy we initiated played a key role in making this happen.  You can see the document yourself below.

Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz Warrant

Whilst much of the focus was on the unprecedented number of grants during his term, President Obama granted just 5% of applications. The media attention was largely taken with the pardon of Chelsea Manning who was convicted for leaking hundreds of thousands of US army intelligence documents and sentenced to 35 years.  However, on the same day, President Obama also announced the commutation of the death sentence of Abelardo, a case with which BCU law school’s Hannah Gorman assisted. 

Mr. Arboleda Ortiz is a Colombian national who was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder which took place in 1998 in connection with a drug distribution ring.  Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s role was limited to being present at the time of the murder: He was in the basement in the house while the victim was shot and killed in a room upstairs.  Three others were tried and convicted separately but two of the co-defendants, including the man who ordered and oversaw the killing, did not receive death sentences. (The third co-defendant, the actual shooter, did receive a death sentence but died in prison several years ago, while awaiting a hearing on his case.) 

Mr. Arboleda Ortiz is intellectually disabled. In the United States of America, executing a person who is suffering from intellectual disability is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. The evidence established that Mr. Arboleda Ortiz has an IQ of 54; was unable to learn to read and write or perform simple mathematics; and that he could not even tie his shoes until he was ten years old. However, during his trial, Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s attorney neglected to undertake a thorough investigation of his disability.

As Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s postconviction appellate attorney, Amy Gershenfeld Donnella, stated “Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s case highlight several glaring problems that plague the federal system no less than state systems: dreadful lawyering by defense counsel; disproportionate sentencing even among co-defendants; significant racial, economic and geographic disparities in the choice of those who will be tried capitally; and procedural constraints that make it virtually impossible to correct a conviction or sentenced imposed, even in violation of the Constitution, when new evidence comes to light.”

“We are incredibly grateful to President Obama for commuting Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz’s sentence from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.” She has also expressed her deep gratitude to the many pro bono attorneys who helped make this result possible."

Hannah Gorman, who formerly co-founded the law school’s Pro Bono Unit and now sits as the associate director of the Centre for Human Rights in close partnership with the Centre of American Legal Studies, said “Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s case epitomizes the value of pro bono work. When cases like this arise, they really require a team: here, in addition to his appointed legal team, highly dedicated pro bono attorneys – including attorneys representing the Republic of Colombia, groups of scientists and mental health experts, and organizations that represent the interests of the intellectually disabled – all came together in this bid for justice.  Without their tremendous efforts, it is unlikely Mr. Arboleda Ortiz’s case would ever have reached the ear of the President.”