On the open­ing day of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term, the Justices announced they would not review the case of Warren Hill, a death row inmate in Georgia with mul­ti­ple find­ings of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Hill peti­tioned the Court after three men­tal health experts, who ini­tial­ly said he was not men­tal­ly dis­abled, changed their assess­ment. The exe­cu­tion of inmates with men­tal retar­da­tion was ruled uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in 2002, but Georgia has the strictest stan­dard in the nation for prov­ing this men­tal dis­abil­i­ty – proof beyond a rea­son­able doubt. Brian Kammer, a lawyer for Hill, said, ​“Mr. Hill has been pro­ce­du­ral­ly barred from prov­ing his exemp­tion from cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, which is why he brought his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the hopes that the court would ensure that the evi­dence of his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty would be heard. It is trag­ic that our high­est court has failed to enforce its own com­mand that per­sons with men­tal retar­da­tion are cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty.” Hill main­tained he has met Georgia’s exact­ing stan­dard because all men­tal health experts who have test­ed him con­cur in his disability.

Georgia could change its stan­dard for prov­ing retar­da­tion, bring­ing it in line with the stan­dards in oth­er states. Hill’s exe­cu­tion remains on hold because of a pend­ing review of the state’s lethal injection law.

(K. Brumback, ​“High court won’t take case of Ga. death row inmate,” Associated Press, October 7, 2013). See Intellectual Disability and U.S. Supreme Court.

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