Even though the state of Georgia was the first state — in 1988 — to pass a law prohibiting the execution of mentally disabled death row inmates, it’s revisiting a requirement for defendants to prove the disability beyond a reasonable doubt ? the strictest burden of proof in the nation.
A Georgia?state ?House committee is holding an out-of-session meeting Thursday to seek input from the public. Other states that impose the death penalty have a lower threshold for proving mental disability, and some don’t set standards at all.
Thursday’s meeting comes against the controversial case of?Warren Lee Hill, who was sentenced to die for the 1990 beating death of fellow inmate?Joseph Handspike, who was bludgeoned with a nail-studded board as he slept. At the time, Hill was already serving a life sentence for the 1986 slaying of his girlfriend,?Myra Wright, who was shot 11?times.
Hill’s lawyers have long maintained he is mentally disabled and therefore shouldn’t be executed but the state has consistently argued that his lawyers have failed to prove his mental disability beyond a reasonable?doubt.?Hill has since been granted three stay of execution.
Mental disability is generally defined as scoring 70 or below on IQ tests. Court records show that Hill scored 69 on one IQ test and 70 on two others. This evidence proves that he is developmentally disabled beyond reasonable doubt. Allowing the execution to continue undermines guidelines that have been put in place to protect developmentally disabled persons.
A coalition of groups that advocate for people with developmental disabilities pushed for the upcoming legislative committee meeting and has been working to get Georgia’s standard of proof changed to a preponderance of the evidence rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Hill’s case has drawn national attention and has shone a spotlight on Georgia’s tough standard.
Kathy Keeley, executive director of All About Developmental Disabilities states that the groups are hoping to not only express their views at the meeting, but also to hear from others to get a broader perspective. The changes should be relatively simple and very narrow in scope, targeting only the burden of proof for death penalty defendants, she said.
Ashley Wright, district attorney for the Augusta district and president of the state District Attorneys’ Association, agree that the mentally disabled shouldn’t be executed, and defendants are frequently spared the death penalty when there is proof of their mental disability supported by appropriate documentation from credible and reliable experts.
“The district attorneys don’t believe that you change a law for no reason and, in this case, the law appears to be working,” she said. “Where has a jury done a disservice? Why are we putting all our eggs in the defendant’s basket and forgetting that there’s a victim?“
Hill’s lawyer, Brian Kammer, argues that a diagnosis beyond a reasonable doubt is almost impossible, due to the disagreements between experts.
“Even where evidence is otherwise seemingly overwhelming that a person has mental retardation, one dissenting opinion that splits a hair on one or more pieces of evidence can result in that person who’s almost certainly mentally retarded being executed,” Kammer said.
In Hill’s case, a state court judge concluded the defendant was probably mentally disabled. In any other state, that would have spared him the death penalty, Kammer said.
Additionally, three state experts who testified in 2000 that Hill was not mentally disabled submitted sworn statements in February saying they had been rushed in their evaluation at the time. After further review and based on scientific developments since then, they now believe Hill is mentally disabled, they said.
The state has dismissed the doctors’ new testimony, saying it isn’t credible. And courts have ruled that Hill is procedurally barred from having a new hearing. His lawyers had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case based on the new evidence, but the high court this month declined to take it up. Hill has a challenge on different grounds pending before the Georgia Supreme Court. But he has exhausted his challenges on the mental disability issue, Kammer said.
State Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, who chairs the Non-Civil Judiciary committee, stated that just because lawmakers are holding a meeting does not mean changes to the law will be proposed, and the review absolutely is not a first step toward abolishing Georgia’s death penalty. “When you’re an outlier, you really ought not to stick your head in the sand,” he said. “You need to go ahead and take a good, hard look at what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, weigh the pros and cons of a change and act accordingly or not.”
Georgia has dealt with a number of questions regarding its executions. In 2011, Troy Davis was executed for the murder of an off-duty police officer, even after nearly all of the witnesses recanted their testimony.
Now the case of Warren Hill raises new questions. Advocates for the disabled say only 10 percent of those with developmental disabilities are identified at trial and that the diagnosis is not often made until defendants are in prison or on death row.
