Inclusion Daily Express -- Supreme Court Sends Death Penalty Case Back To Ohio Court

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Supreme Court Sends Death Penalty Case Back To Ohio Court
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
June 2, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC-- For the first time since it ruled that executing people with mental retardation is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has given a state court another chance to prove that a potential death row inmate does not have the intellectual disability and could therefore face the death penalty.

The case involves Michael Bies, who was convicted in an Ohio court of murder in 1992.

After his conviction, the jury heard a psychiatrist testify that Bies was "mildly mentally retarded to borderline mentally retarded", with an I.Q. in the "65 to 75 range", and that he could "fairly independently" carry out activities of daily living. The jury ordered Bies to be executed, but did not specify whether the evidence about his disability played any part in its decision.

Ohio defines mental retardation as, among other things, having "significantly sub-average intellectual functioning", which is presumed with an I.Q score below 70, and a lack of two or more fundamental social and practical skills.

In the high court's decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the trial court had not paid enough attention to the issue of mental retardation, and had not proven that Bies had experienced 'significant limitation in two or more adaptive skills.'

On June 21, 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is "cruel and unusual punishment" when it is used on people determined to have mental retardation and therefore violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The court did not define what is meant by "mental retardation", leaving that up to the individual states to sort out.

Entire article:
Court Approves New Hearing on Whether Death Row Inmate Is Retarded (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/us/02scotus.html
Related:
The Death Penalty And Mental Retardation (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/deathpenalty.htm
Atkins v. Virginia (U.S. Supreme Court)
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZS.html

Copyright © 2009 Inonit Publishing
Please do not reprint, forward, or post without permission.

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