National

Intellectually Disabled Prisoner Warren Hill’s Scheduled Execution Tonight


NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–July 15, 2013.  In a matter of hours, the state of Georgia plans to execute Warren Hill, whom experts for the state and the defense have unanimously found to be intellectually disabled.

“This case is highly unusual in that no state expert disputes that Mr. Hill falls within the definition of intellectual disability,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “It is thus a constitutional and moral imperative that Mr. Hill’s execution be stayed.”

It has been more than a decade since the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing intellectually disabled prisoners violates the 8th Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The court noted that their disability “places them at special risk of wrongful execution.”

Source: aclu.org

 


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