A coun­ty judge in Georgia denied relief for Warren Hill, a death row inmate whose diag­nosed intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties have failed to meet the state’s nar­row stan­dard for exemp­tion from the death penal­ty. However, the judge encour­aged the state Supreme Court to con­sid­er whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court rul­ing, Hall v. Florida, should require Georgia to mod­i­fy its stan­dard. Chief Judge Thomas Wilson of Butts County said, ​“In light of the sever­i­ty of the penal­ty in this case, this Court hopes that, in review­ing [Mr. Hill’s] appli­ca­tion to appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court will ful­ly con­sid­er any poten­tial appli­ca­tion of Hall v. Florida to [his] case.” In Hall v. Florida, the Supreme Court direct­ed Florida to broad­en its inter­pre­ta­tion of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Florida refused to spare an inmate whose IQ was just one point above their cut­off. Similarly, Georgia has the nar­row­est stan­dard of proof for intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty in the entire coun­try, requir­ing defen­dants to prove their dis­abil­i­ty beyond a rea­son­able doubt. Brian Kammer, an attor­ney for Hill, said,“Mr. Hill should not be eli­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion in a nation which does not exe­cute per­sons with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, and he would not be eli­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion in any oth­er juris­dic­tion in the nation.”

The vic­tim’s fam­i­ly in Hill’s case has also said that they do not sup­port his exe­cu­tion. Several jurors from his tri­al have said that they would have rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of life with­out parole if it had been an option at the time. National and state orga­ni­za­tions focus­ing on intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties have sup­port­ed Hill’s claim. President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter have called for a com­mu­ta­tion of Mr. Hill’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole. Additionally, the American Bar Association, the ACLU, and the Council of Europe have all called for spar­ing Hill’s life.

(Hill v. Chatman, Order, September 29, 2014; E. Jacobson (Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities), ​“The Supreme Court Must Stop the Execution of Warren Hill,” Huffington Post, February 11, 2013). See Intellectual Disability and Supreme Court.

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