Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Atkins MR/ID death penalty decision: Lewis v Ohio (2010)




Lewis v Ohio (2010) is being added to the Court Decisions blogroll. The opinion concluded that, "the court finds that Defendant has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he is intellectually disabled or mentally retarded. Thus, a sentence of death may not be imposed on Defendant pursuant to the Eighth Amendment"

Of notable interest was the courts acceptance of a Flynn effect adjustment to IQ scores.

Thanks again to Kevin Foley for sending me a copy of this decision.

Potential conflict of interest: I have professional relations with two of the defense experts--Dr. Stephen Greenspan (listed as an expert at the ICDP blog) and Dr. Woods (we both serve on an AAIDD Atkins committee, together with Dr. Greenspan).


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