Entries tagged with “Brian Strickland

Apr 03, 2025

Georgia Senate Passes Bill Lowering Legal Standard for Intellectual Disability for Capital Defendants; Sends Bill to Governor’s Desk

On March 31, 2025, the Georgia Senate, in a 531 vote, passed HB 123, send­ing the bill to Governor Brian Kemp’s desk to be signed. HB 123 pro­vides pre­tri­al hear­ings for cap­i­tal defen­dants to raise intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claims and would low­er the stan­dard of proof for those claims from​“beyond a rea­son­able doubt” to a​“pre­pon­der­ance of evi­dence,” in line with the oth­er 26 states that still retain the death penal­ty. The near-unan­i­­mous Senate vote comes on the…