North Carolina Man Is Sixth in State to be Spared Under New Law on Mental Retardation

Anthony Maurice Bone will become the sixth North Carolina death row inmate to have his sen­tence com­mut­ed to life in prison due to a 2001 state law ban­ning the exe­cu­tion of indi­vid­u­als with men­tal retar­da­tion. The state defines as men­tal­ly retard­ed any­one with an IQ of 70 or below who also has sig­nif­i­cant impair­ment in at least two of ten life activ­i­ties, such as com­mu­ni­cat­ing and tak­ing care of them­selves. The law requires that defen­dants show signs of retar­da­tion before they turn 18. The U.S. Supreme Court banned the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal retar­da­tion in its 2002 Atkins v. Virginia rul­ing. (News & Record, December 10, 2003).

Editorial Challenges Texas Death Penalty

In a November 25, 2003 edi­to­r­i­al, the Austin American-Statesman argues that the state’s imple­men­ta­tion of the death penal­ty is unfair, cit­ing the recent case of Walter Bell, who was declared men­tal­ly retard­ed by state experts. The edi­to­r­i­al states that despite this,

“Rodney Connerly, the Jefferson County assis­tant dis­trict attor­ney who is now han­dling the case, dis­miss­es the retar­da­tion find­ings as just ​“based on num­bers,” and said the fact that Bell could com­mit the killings shows he is not mentally retarded.”

Read the entire edi­to­r­i­al by click­ing here.

Virginia Schedules Execution of Mentally Ill Man

On May 28th, Virginia is sched­uled to elec­tro­cute Percy Levar Walton, a Virginia death row inmate who does not know what year it is or that he can­not eat at Burger King once he has been exe­cut­ed. In a pend­ing clemen­cy peti­tion to Virginia Governor Mark Warner and in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Walton’s attor­neys pre­sent­ed expert med­ical evi­dence, includ­ing tests by prison doc­tors, show­ing that their client suf­fers from schiz­o­phre­nia and psy­chosis. They note that prison guards call Walton ​“Horse,” short for ​“Crazy Horse,” and that the guards stay at arms lengths to avoid his stench (a clas­sic symp­tom of schiz­o­phre­nia). In addi­tion to Walton’s men­tal ill­ness, he scored a 66 on a recent IQ test and may be men­tal­ly retard­ed. A per­son with an IQ of 70 or low­er is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered men­tal­ly retard­ed. (Associated Press, May 22, 2003) See Clemency.

Texas Lags on Supreme Court’s Mental Retardation Ruling

Texas leg­is­la­tors have failed to pass laws that could bring the state into com­pli­ance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia that bans the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal retar­da­tion. Nearly a year after the Court’s rul­ing in Atkins, Texas offi­cials have no idea how many of the 449 death row inmates have the dis­abil­i­ty, and no safe­guards to ensure that those affect­ed by the rul­ing are not put to death. Most of the leg­isla­tive efforts have focused on iden­ti­fy­ing defen­dants with men­tal retar­da­tion before their tri­als, not find­ing those who are already on death row. Houston defense attor­ney Dick Burr stat­ed, ​“People fac­ing the death penal­ty here are depen­dent on the good will of their lawyers. It means that some peo­ple are lucky and oth­ers are not.” The state’s test­ing has revealed that 7% of Texas con­victs have IQs below 70, the com­mon­ly accept­ed bench­mark for men­tal retar­da­tion. Thus, there could be as many as 31 con­demned inmates who qual­i­fy to have their death sen­tences lift­ed. Texas Governor Rick Perry has stat­ed that he believes that no one on death row has men­tal retar­da­tion, and his belief is echoed by Houston assis­tant dis­trict attor­ney Roe Wilson, who han­dles most of Harris County’s cap­i­tal appeals. ​“I don’t know of any who are men­tal­ly retard­ed,” Wilson said. (Houston Chronicle, May 11, 2003)

Louisiana Governor Commutes Death Sentence to Life In Prison

Louisiana Governor Mike Foster has removed Herbert Welcome, a 51-year-old man with men­tal retar­da­tion, from the state’s death row and com­mut­ed his sen­tence to life in prison. The deci­sion came after mem­bers of the state’s Pardon Board rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy in keep­ing with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia, which bans the exe­cu­tion of those who have men­tal retar­da­tion. Experts esti­mate that Welcome, who has spent 19 years on death row and who has faced exe­cu­tion at least three times, has the men­tal matu­ri­ty of an 8‑year-old child. (Associated Press, May 10, 2003) See Clemency.

Circuit Court Halts Texas Execution to Allow Consideration of Mental Retardation Claim

Nine hours before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Texas death row inmate Robert Charles Ladd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed the exe­cu­tion to allow Ladd’s attor­neys time to file an appeal in a low­er court rais­ing ques­tions about their clien­t’s IQ. Ladd’s attor­neys claim that a child­hood test put Ladd’s IQ at 67. A per­son with an IQ of 70 or low­er is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered to have men­tal retar­da­tion and would be inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion under the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia. (Associated Press, April 23, 2003)

Nevada House Votes to Spare Juveniles

Members of Nevada’s Assembly over­whelm­ing­ly passed three leg­isla­tive mea­sures to reform the state’s death penal­ty. The bills include a ban on the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers and those with men­tal retar­da­tion. The third piece of leg­is­la­tion adds the mit­i­gat­ing fac­tor of men­tal ill­ness to those fac­tors con­sid­ered by the sen­tenc­ing jury and gives defense coun­sel the last argu­ment dur­ing the sen­tenc­ing phase of a cap­i­tal tri­al. Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, chair of the inter­im com­mit­tee that stud­ied Nevada’s death penal­ty and intro­duced the three mea­sures, said, ​“I think it reflects the evolv­ing opin­ion of Nevadans and the nation about how the death penal­ty can be applied fair­ly and appro­pri­ate­ly.” The bills now move to the Senate for con­sid­er­a­tion. (Las Vegas Sun, April 1, 2003)