On October 21, the U.S. Supreme Court accept­ed a new case, Hall v. Florida (No. 12 – 10882), to deter­mine whether the Florida Supreme Court prop­er­ly upheld the death sen­tence of a man whose IQ is just above the state’s stan­dard for men­tal retar­da­tion. According to the state’s law, defen­dants with an IQ above 70 can­not be con­sid­ered intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled, even though most states use a broad­er def­i­n­i­tion and there is a mar­gin of error in such IQ tests. Freddie Lee Hall’s scores on three IQ tests ranged from 71 to 80. A state judge had pre­vi­ous­ly found Hall to be men­tal­ly dis­abled, but the rul­ing took place before the state passed a law set­ting the IQ lim­it. The case will be argued lat­er in the Supreme Court’s term. In Georgia, a House com­mit­tee will hold an out-of-ses­sion meet­ing to exam­ine the state’s strict stan­dard for deter­min­ing men­tal retar­da­tion in cap­i­tal cas­es. Defendants are required to prove intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty beyond a rea­son­able doubt, the strictest bur­den of proof in the nation.

In 2002, the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia banned the exe­cu­tion of inmates with men­tal retar­da­tion, but allowed states to set their own stan­dards in deter­min­ing men­tal retar­da­tion. Florida is one of nine states with a strict IQ cutoff.

(“Ga. to review tough death penal­ty pro­vi­sion,” Associated Press, October 19, 2013; M. Sherman, ​“High Court to Look at Death Row Inmate With Low IQ,” Associated Press, October 21, 2013). See Intellectual Disability and U.S. Supreme Court.

Citation Guide