Death Row Debate
The question of capital punishment provokes heated discussions even amongst the most moderate political minds. For the case of Warren Lee Hill, the controversy of whether or not mental capacity should play a role in death penalty cases has a profound impact on his current court appeal. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executions of mentally retarded criminals qualified as “cruel and unusual punishment.” Hill was already serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend, when he received the death penalty conviction for killing a fellow inmate. However, his court-appointed lawyers, during his trial did not have the resources to obtain Hill’s IQ test scores of 70, thus the jury who sentenced him to death did not hear that Hill was mentally incapacitated at his trial. Despite the new evidence, previous courts did not acknowledge a “miscarriage of justice” as the information would only affect Hill’s sentence and not the verdict.
To read the full opinion, click here!
Citation: Clancy, M. USA Today. Supreme Court vs. Warren Lee Hill: Column. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/29/warren-hill-supreme-court-disabled-murder-column/2892171/.
[Abstract written by Emily McGowan, ForensIQ Intern]
