Clarity sought on IQ test in death penalty case
By: Maureen Gripps
USA Today
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday [11/04/2024] declined to review whether a convicted murderer's intellectual disability is severe enough that he can't be executed, directing a lower court first to clarify its opinion.
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That decision came over the objections of Justices Clarance Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, who said they would have agreed to Alabama's request that the court review that opinion and potentially revisit past decisions on how states must evaluate intellectual disabilities to avoid cruel and unusual punishment.
..... The Alabama Board of Corrections said an appeals court "bent law and logic" when ruling that the state can't execute Joseph Clifton Smith, whose IQ is in the 70s.
..... Smith was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of Durk Van Dam, who suffered 35 blunt force injuries and wounds from a saw on his neck, shoulder and back.
..... Alabama slaked the Supreme Court to reverse that decision and, if necessary, also consider past rulings on how abilities to avoid violating the Constitution.
..... Fourteen other states with Republican attorneys general also urged the Supreme Court to get involved, saying the Eight Amendment's protections against excessive punishments have taken on a "roving commission" that "forces judges to act as sociologists and determine what they think runs afoul of the evolving standards decency."
..... That has eroded states' ability to fight crime, the states said.
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In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that executing someone with an intellectual disability violates the Eight Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Later decisions in 2014and 2016 faulted Florida and Texas for how they evaluate the disability.
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Alabama law defines intellectual disability as an IQ of 70 or below, "significant or substantial deficits in adaptive behavior: and the onset of those qualities before the age of 18.
..... Smith's IQ scores have ranged from 72 to 78.
..... the Alabama Board of Corrections argues the lower courts relied solely on the lowest score and, given the standard range of error in IQ tests, said Smith's score could be as low as 69.
..... Smith's attorneys said the district judge considered additional evidence, including Smith's behavioral skills.
..... The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals found that evaluation met the Supreme Court's standards.
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Senior U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade called the evaluation of Smith's mental functioning a 'close case" but wrote "the evidence indicates that Smith's intelligence and adaptive functioning has been deficient throughout his life."
..... But Alabama sassed the Supreme Court whether the appeals court was wrongs.
..... In a brief order on Monday, [11/04/2024] the court said the appeals court's decision was unclear about whether it used a holistic approach to weighing the evidence or relied ion his lowest-possible IQ score.