Georgia set to execute mentally disabled inmate despite court ruling

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Georgia set to execute mentally disabled inmate despite court ruling

Move would pit Georgia against the will of the supreme court, which bans death penalty for inmates with learning disabilities

Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 July 2012 12.32 EDT

A death row prisoner in Georgia who has been officially deemed by the courts to be "mentally retarded" is scheduled to be executed next week despite a supreme court ruling that bans the death sentence for people with learning difficulties.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles was due to hear a clemency appeal on behalf of the prisoner, Warren Hill, on Friday and has the power to commute his death penalty to life without parole.

But should the five-member board decide to dismiss his plea, Hill will be executed by lethal injection at 7pm on Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson in a move that could pit Georgia against the clear will of the supreme court, the highest judicial panel in the nation.

"We are heading into a constitutional crisis," Hill's lawyer, Brian Kammer, said. "The supreme court banned executions of mentally retarded prisoners, but here we are in Georgia about to execute a man who is mentally retarded."


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/13/georgia-execute-mentally-disabled-man

[unblock]

1. only in america.

and countries we call "uncivilized".

[caseymoz]

2. Declare Georgia in rebellion

Cut off all federal funds. Let it exist as a Third World country for a while. As opposed to say, sending in the troops. We've already been through this Nullification shit before. If the state wants to secede, give a taste of a blockade.

[coalition_unwilling]

3. USA! USA! USA! :sarcasm: - n/t

[wwytchwood]

4. It's time, I think

to re-constitute the Union Armies, and take back the South again, and not letting them rise ever.

[TrogL]

5. Or create the United States of Canada

[wryter2000]

6. That works for me

Let them try to exist without tax resources from CA, MA, and NY. They love to heap verbal abuse on us, let's see them do without us.

[xxqqqzme]

7. I'm not willing

to concede all those miles of coastal land to the corporate controlled, polluting idiots of jesusland.

[Posteritatis]

9. I'm okay with this provided we give Jesusland Alberta. (nt)

[TrogL]

28. No you can't - that's where I am

[Swede Atlanta]

14. The map is not quite accurate....

First of all many of the states in the West including states like Wyoming, the Dakotas, Colorado (when it votes R) and to a lesser extent Idaho and Utah, Arizona and New Mexico don't vote Republican because of their belief that only Republicans love Jesus. Most of these westerns states do it because they have an aversion to government and authority and love their guns.

Further I think there are states in the Ohio valley and even states like Virginia don't vote that way for religious reasons.

But the South from the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma are definitely Jesusland.

[Posteritatis]

8. The south's certainly ignoring a shitload of court decisions lately, aren't they? (nt)

[FiveGoodMen]

10. How are people not going to jail for this?!

Just like Rick Scott saying he won't obey court orders...

Does the court have any actual power?

[Sivafae]

12. Nope. Not really. It is up to the executive branch to enforce the laws.

But this it a show of pure lawlessness none the less.

[msanthrope]

26. What law is being broken? Before you indict the Executive Branch, tell me which law you want

enforced?

[classykaren]

11. Florida did this a few years ago

Florida said as long as they know right from wrong. I think the Feds need to arrest someone for attempted murder .Start with the governor.

[a2liberal]

13. wow

It's getting so blatant...

[missheidi]

15. Ugh, one of the many reasons...

I'm ashamed to be from GA. This hasn't even been on the news here :/

[davidthegnome]

16. Regardless of their mental status

I have a hard time finding any sympathy for convicted murderers. Of course, our justice system is far from infallible and the innocent are convicted with alarming frequency. In any case, the law must be upheld, executing this man is wrong in any event. I am not a supporter of the death penalty - but I would not argue his case based on his mental status. Rather based on simple common sense - we do not discourage murder by executing those guilty of it.

If there is really no doubt of guilt, I tend to lean towards the less lenient side. As someone who personally has a history of mental illness, I find it contemptible that mental illness and/or retardation are so frequently used to justify or provide leniency for murder. There are so many who are mentally challenged in one way or another, or a variety of ways. So many who never commit any terrible crimes, certainly not murder. There cannot be one law for the sane and another for the insane. Nor can there be one for those of sound mental health and a different one for those who are mentally challenged.

In a just world, it would apply equally.

That said, Georgia is frigging insane. There is no need to execute this man, there is no justification for it and it is not even legal under our system.

[msanthrope]

18. He was already in for murder when he beat an inmate to death with a nailed 2x6.

I'm not surprised the state went for the death penalty in that case. The family of the inmate does not want the death penalty, however...

[Doremus]

22. What was a convicted murderer doing with a nailed 2x6 in prison?!

[msanthrope]

25. Well, that behavior might suggest either collusion, or, negligence on the part of the prison staff.

Best not to ask tooooo many questions, though....

[msanthrope]

17. What a clusterfuck of a case--Georgia requires a finding of mental retardation at a standard of BRD,

as opposed to preponderance, or more-likely-than-not.

The judge who found him mentally retarded found him using the lower standard.

Georgia Supremes upheld the stringent guideline, and the SCOTUS declined to hear.

The family of the guy he beat to death does not want the death penalty.

[may3rd]

20. what does the family of the girl he killed think about the death penalty ?

How did his lawyer beat that murder charge which landed him in jail in the first place?

[msanthrope]

24. Ok. How does being in prison LWOP mean you beat a murder charge?

Beating a murder charge means you walk.

I hope that the family of Ms. Wright was satisfied with the sentence sought on the original crime, and hope they have found peace.

It's entirely possible Georgia prosecutors never sought the death penalty on the original murder---take a look at McKlesky v. Kemp to find out why.

[may3rd]

19. Hill was in jail for killing his girlfriend but sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner

.....Hill, 52, was sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner, Joseph Handspike, in 1990. At the time he was already serving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend, Myra Wright

Why did he kill his girlfriend?

[choie]

21. I'm in the process of writing a final paper

on the death penalty and mental illness and this tragically happens more often than we think (at least than I thought). It's truly frightening and immoral.

[CreekDog]

23. waiting for a regular advocate for the NRA to post in this thread

apparently this does not horrify them as much as criticism of the NRA in an adjacent LBN thread.

look, we get it.

[khermans]

27. Barbaric

What kind of atavistic barbarians would do this? This is who Georgians freely elect into office?
I will guess they are "pro life", when it comes to zygotes. The people of Georgia should be ashamed they put these people into the positions they are in. If they are not, maybe they should move to Iran or some other dictatorship where this would be legal. I have a daughter who was born with Down Syndrome, and she is more compassionate and has more worth than any of these monsters.