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Harsh Georgia Law Allows Execution of Inmate Despite His Mental Disability

© AP Photo / Rick BowmerThe execution room is shown Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, at the Oregon State Penitentiary, in Salem, Ore
The execution room is shown Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, at the Oregon State Penitentiary, in Salem, Ore - Sputnik International
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US state of Georgia executed a man who had killed a fellow inmate despite arguments from his lawyers that their defendandt was intellectually disabled.

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WASHINGTON, January 29 (Sputnik) — Execution of a mentally challenged inmate in US state of Georgia was caused by the state strict rules for determining intellectual disability, even though the United States has a ban on “cruel and unusual punishments,” experts told Sputnik News Agency.

“Georgia has a uniquely harsh standard for determining intellectual disability. Any other state would long ago have declared Warren Hill death-ineligible,” Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights at Hofstra University Eric Freedman told Sputnik Wednesday, calling the state’s practice “freakish.”

Warren Hill, who was in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, was sentenced to death after he killed a fellow inmate. His lawyers argued that the inmate was intellectually disabled and his execution was prohibited by a 1986 decision under the Eighth Amendment that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. However, the court voted against taking up the advocates’ petition.

“According to the law of Georgia, the defendant had the burden of persuasion beyond the reasonable doubt. In other words, if we believe that it is 90 percent likely that he is mentally retarded, but 10 percent possible that he might be normal, normal enough to execute, then under Georgia law, we can execute him,” Professor at New York Law School, author of “The Death of Punishment” Robert Blecker said.

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Hill was executed as earlier a judge ruled that he had shown his intellectual disability by a preponderance of the evidence, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. He made this decision based on some experts opinions, who, as it later turned out, had not seen all the evidence, Freedman explained.

“By the time the full truth came out, the lower courts made procedural rulings that Hill was fling too late,” Professor of Constitutional Rights at Hofstra University Eric Freedman said. “It is those legalistic rulings that should be the real target of criticism, rather than the Supreme Court, which, as an institutional matter simply does not have the capacity to correct every injustice in the country – even in capital cases.”

Professor Robert Blecker said it is a mistake to require the defendant to show that he is not mentally culpable, and the burden of persuasion beyond the reasonable doubt shouldn’t be on him.

“It comes down to that: not only what is it that disqualifies someone from being executed to the mental retardation or incapacity, but how certain do we have to be about it. And right now the United States Supreme court has said that the Constitution leaves it open to the states to impose their own level of certainty,” Blecker said.

In June 2002, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment to execute death row inmates with "mental retardation.” Georgia is the only state that requires to prove intellectual disability beyond the reasonable doubt.

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