US EditionSupreme Court hears Alabama's appeal to execute a man found to be intellectually disabled
The Supreme Court is deciding if courts should use a holistic approach to assess multiple IQ scores when determining intellectual disability in death penalty cases.
- The Supreme Court prohibited execution of intellectually disabled people in a landmark ruling in 2002, but the issue in Joseph Clifton Smith's case is what happens when a person has multiple IQ scores slightly above 70, a marker of intellectual disability.
- Smith had been placed in learning-disabled classes, dropped out after seventh grade, and at the time of his 1997 crime, performed at low academic levels, according to his lawyers.
- Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts ruled Smith intellectually disabled, with the state arguing he hasn't met the burden of showing an IQ under 70, while Smith's lawyers say the courts followed the law in assessing all evidence.
68 Articles
68 Articles
Court appears divided on whether lower courts properly found death row inmate to be intellectually disabled
The Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with the case of an Alabama man who has been on that state’s death row for more than two decades. The question before the justices was how the lower courts should have addressed Joseph Smith’s claim that he is intellectually disabled and therefore cannot be executed when Smith has taken five separate IQ tests over a span of almost 40 years. After roughly two hours of oral argument, the justices were divide…
Associated Press News
Supreme Court hears Alabama's appeal to execute a man found to be intellectually disabled
The Supreme Court is taking up an appeal from Alabama, which wants to put to death a man who lower federal courts found is intellectually disabled and shielded from execution.
Alabama Supreme Court grants request for oral arguments in former Decatur officer Mac Marquette's appeal
The state supreme court has granted a request by former Decatur Police Officer Mac Marquette to have oral arguments heard in his third attempt to have his charges thrown out.
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