The Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court in State v. Jimenez announced new procedures on August 17, 2005 for deciding claims of mental retardation by a defendant facing the death penalty:

(a) the State must be put to the burden of proving the absence of mental retardation when a colorable issue is presented; (b) the State’s burden is to prove the absence of mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt; (c) the jury must be the factfinder; and (d) a defendant may never be put to any burden of persuasion at any pretrial proceeding concerning the issue.
-from the concurring opinion. See the entire opinion: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a3736-04.pdf.

In Louisiana on August 9, 2005 in a pre-trial ruling by Louisiana State District Court Judge Stephen Beasley in the case of State v. Jimmy Turner, 11th JDC, Sabine Parish, the court found Louisiana’s law providing procedures for the determination of mental retardation in a capital case to be unconstitutional on several grounds. In particular, the court found the use of a death-qualified jury to make the finding of mental retardation to be prone to error.