Smart Enough To Die

Has our legal system’s use of the death penalty finally turned into an unconscious satire of itself?

Three years ago, in the case of a Virginia man named Daryl R. Atkins, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. But Mr. Atkins’s recent test scores could eliminate him from that group.

His scores have shot up, a defense expert said, thanks to the mental workout his participation in years of litigation gave him.

The Supreme Court, which did not decide whether Mr. Atkins was retarded, noted that he scored 59 on an I.Q. test in 1998. The cutoff for retardation in Virginia is 70.

A defense expert who retested Mr. Atkins last year found that his I.Q. was 74. In court here on Thursday, prosecutors said their expert’s latest test yielded 76.
. . .
Prosecutors say that Mr. Atkins has never been retarded and that the recent tests confirm it. “I don’t see how a 76 is exculpatory and evidence of mental retardation,” Eileen M. Addison, the commonwealth’s attorney here, said in court on Thursday. “It needs to be under 70.”

Ms. Addison has said that Mr. Atkins’s crime also proves that he is not retarded. In an interview last year, she said that his ability to load and work a gun, to recognize an A.T.M. card, to direct Mr. Nesbitt to withdraw money and to identify a remote area for the killing all proved that Mr. Atkins is not retarded.

On the merits, I agree with the prosecution here. It’s kinda hard to study your way out of retarded. On the other hand, is an IQ test really the best way to determine whether or not someone’s retarded? Aren’t there more scientific ways they can make that determination? Perhaps astrology or prayer.

More to the point, is our justice system so goddamned bloodthirsty that they’ll keep testing a convicted murderer over and over again until they get the magic I.Q. number that will let them fry the guy? When someone is a test score away from deserving death or deserving pity, there’s a serious problem that isn’t being addressed.


posted by greg on February 8, 2005 @ 3:11 pm

4 comments

  1. In my humble opinion, as someone in the legal biz, I will side with the prosecution in this case. My personal feelings towards the death penalty are not exactly ‘liberal or progressive’ but I certainly don’t share Chimpy’s ‘fry em all’ mentality. If this guy Atkins was found guilty of first degree or capital murder (premeditated, intentional killing with malice aforthought) then he should be sentenced accordingly, as per the state he was tried in. If his mental retardation prevents the state from applying the death penalty, then it should have prevented him from either 1. being competent to stand trial and adequately understand the proceedings and assist in his defense and 2. if he is mentally retarded (non-functional per the original number), then he cannot form the proper mental state to commit an intentional killing.

    If he was competent and he did have the mental state, then there should be no argument against imposition of the death penalty.

    Personally I favor the death penalty because if someone is so ‘sick’ as to commit murder as defined by statute, then they cannot be rehabilitated, and in my opinion it is cruel to keep someone in prison without parole for life. If they can be rehabilitated, then once again, what is the purpose of a life term, or as they love to bring up on “Law & Order” – consecutive life sentences. I just don’t get it, if they are a write-off, then just fufucking kill them and get it over with, it saves the taxpayers money, it saves space in prisons and it doesn’t torture the inmate.

    Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

    Comment by mbf1978 — February 8, 2005 @ 9:26 pm

  2. He was retarded enough to not give all wrong answers.

    Comment by merl — February 8, 2005 @ 10:04 pm

  3. Don’t forget that in CT, there’s a guy who *wants* to die and they won’t let him. The guy’s admitted to killing several women, doesn’t want the appeals, wants to die, and now in the 12th hour, the answer is no. I don’t know how I feel about the death penalty except that it should never, EVER apply to me. But sometimes I think that the law is simply sadistic. Those that are at peace with the process are found incompetent of execution, while those who fear it the most, beg the most, plead the most, are executed. Talk about cruel and unusual…

    Comment by FreedomByChoice — February 9, 2005 @ 5:28 am

  4. Blogroll html code, FYI

    Here is the code behind the post:

    Trackback by RealityBuzz.org — February 10, 2005 @ 1:04 pm

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