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| Fla. Law Bans Execution for Retarded |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/14/2001 |
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Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law Tuesday a bill banning the execution of mentally retarded killers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, said he hasn't decided whether to sign a similar bill, veto it or let it become law without his signature as a Sunday deadline approaches. Perry said Tuesday he was worried the measure passed by his legislature would fundamentally change the system of jury trials. The Florida law does not specify how low an inmate's IQ level must be for the inmate to be considered retarded, but does define inmates as retarded if they have below-normal intellectual functions and behavior. An analysis by legislative employees found that the bill would likely spare any inmate with an IQ of 70 or less. "This legislation will provide much-needed protection for the mentally retarded in the judicial process,'' Bush said in a statement. The law allows inmates to be examined by two court-appointed independent experts to determine whether they are retarded. Defense attorneys and prosecutors can also present evidence from their own experts. "It's a very good development in that it's a recognition that people who are mentally limited are not as morally culpable,'' said Martin McClain, an attorney who has represented many death row inmates. The law does not apply to any of the 371 people now on Florida's death row. Under Florida's old law, convicted killers could use evidence of mental retardation as a "mitigating'' circumstance that a jury and judge could consider in sentencing. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to consider this fall whether the execution of a mentally retarded North Carolina inmate would be ``cruel and unusual punishment'' barred under the federal constitution. At least one mentally retarded inmate has been executed in Florida since 1972, according to Michael Radelet, a sociologist at the University of Florida. Arthur F. Goode III was executed in 1984 for killing a 9-year-old boy. According to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., 14 states have laws banning the execution of mentally retarded people. The center says, since 1990, Texas has executed six convicted killers who were mentally retarded. Perry argues that a murderer can be mentally retarded and still know right from wrong. He cited the case of John Paul Penry, who was convicted for the 1979 rape and murder of Pamela Moseley Carpenter at Carpenter's home in Livingston. "Mr. Penry knew right from wrong,'' Perry said. On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Penry's death sentence stating that jurors didn't receive clear instructions on the mental retardation issue. Perry said he will leave the definition of mental retardation up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the issue based on a North Carolina case. In that case, Ernest McCarver, described by his lawyer as having the mind of a 10-year-old, was sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of a 71-year-old cafeteria worker who had befriended him. |
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