WASHINGTON – After the Supreme Court in 2002 said inmates who are intellectually disabled can't be executed, prosecutors largely stopped seeking the death penalty for defendants with clear developmental disabilities.
The borderline cases remained.
Judges often hear competing testimony from experts about whether a death row inmate has a severe enough intellectual disability to prevent execution, a threshold the high court left up to states to determine.
The justices on Dec. 10 will delve back into the issue, debating how courts should assess the results of multiple intelligence tests when making close calls.
One hundred and forty-four people have had their death sentences vacated due to intellectual disabilities since 2002, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
