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Entries tagged with “Warren Hill”

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Intellectual Disability

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Mental Illness

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Jul 16, 2012

Executions Scheduled for July 18 in Texas and Georgia Present Serious Mental Health Issues

Yokamon Hearn (pic­tured) is fac­ing exe­cu­tion in Texas on July 18 despite clear evi­dence of brain dam­age since his ear­ly child­hood. Hearn’s tri­al attor­neys failed to con­duct an ade­quate inves­ti­ga­tion into Hearn’s ear­ly his­to­ry, which would have uncov­ered mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence that he was neglect­ed by his par­ents and had a his­to­ry of men­tal health prob­lems. His moth­er’s alco­holism was so severe that she drank to the point of pass­ing out dur­ing her preg­nan­cy with…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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New Voices

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Feb 13, 2013

Georgia Disabilities Expert Calls for Halt to Execution of Inmate with Mental Retardation

On February 19, Georgia is sched­uled to exe­cute Warren Hill, a death row inmate who has been diag­nosed with men­tal retar­da­tion (intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty). Over a decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute the men­tal­ly retard­ed. However, Hill con­tin­ues to face exe­cu­tion because Georgia requires proof of retar­da­tion beyond a rea­son­able doubt, the strictest such stan­dard in the country…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Intellectual Disability

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Clemency

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Jul 06, 2012

Georgia Inmate Scheduled to Die Despite Initial Finding of Intellectual Disabilities

Warren Hill (pic­tured) is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on July 18 in Georgia despite being pre­vi­ous­ly found intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled. The U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virgnia (2002) banned the exe­cu­tion of indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties (men­tal retar­da­tion), but allowed each state to set guide­lines for deter­min­ing whether an inmate has such a con­di­tion. In Georgia, cap­i­tal defen­dants are required to prove ​“men­tal retar­da­tion” beyond a…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Executions Overview

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Lethal Injection

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Jul 19, 2013

Georgia Judge Finds State’s Lethal Injection Secrecy Law Interferes With Constitutional Rights

On July 18, a Georgia Superior Court judge ruled that the state’s new law shield­ing the source of lethal injec­tion drugs inter­fered with Warren Hill​’s right to chal­lenge his method of exe­cu­tion and is there­fore prob­a­bly uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. According to the law, infor­ma­tion per­tain­ing to drugs used in exe­cu­tions is clas­si­fied as ​“con­fi­den­tial state secrets” and can­not be dis­closed. Judge Gail S. Tusan said the law ” ​“To be exe­cut­ed with­out being…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Oct 01, 2014

Georgia Judge Would Allow Execution of Intellectually Disabled Man, But Calls for Higher Court Review

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…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Intellectual Disability

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Jan 19, 2015

Georgia Sets Execution Date for Inmate with Intellectual Disabilities

Georgia has set an exe­cu­tion date of January 27 for Warren Hill, an inmate diag­nosed with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties (for­mer­ly referred to as ​“men­tal retar­da­tion”). If Hill was con­vict­ed in any oth­er state in the coun­try, he almost cer­tain­ly would be inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. The U.S. Supreme Court banned the exe­cu­tion of peo­ple with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties in Atkins v. Virginia (2002), but allowed states to set pro­ce­dures for determining…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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May 31, 2013

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: Georgia Inmate Appeals Intellectual Disability Claim to U.S. Supreme Court

On May 23, lawyers for Georgia death row inmate Warren Hill (pic­tured) peti­tioned the U.S. Supreme Court to pre­vent his exe­cu­tion, cit­ing strong evi­dence that Hill has an intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Three men­tal health experts who tes­ti­fied in 2000 that Hill did not have an intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty have now changed their mind about the inmate’s men­tal health. According to the peti­tion, ​“all sev­en men­tal health experts who have ever eval­u­at­ed Hill, both the…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Executions Overview

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Death Row

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Time on Death Row

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Aug 15, 2013

Repeated Execution Dates Called Psychological Torture

According to some experts, the process of repeat­ed­ly sub­mit­ting a per­son to immi­nent exe­cu­tion is a form of psy­cho­log­i­cal tor­ture that should be…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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United States Supreme Court

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Jul 15, 2013

The Writ of Habeas Corpus and the Warren Hill Case

UPDATE: Warren Hill was grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion by a Georgia court just hours before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion on July 15. A hear­ing is sched­uled for July 18 to con­sid­er chal­lenges to a new state law that shields the iden­ti­ty of the lethal injec­tion drug’s man­u­fac­tur­er and the pre­scrib­ing physi­cian from the pub­lic. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 15, 2013). As a peti­tion on behalf of Georgia death row inmate Warren…