Sasser (2012) files in 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Sasser (2012) has filed an appeal in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior documents regarding this case can be found here. I can not comment on this case as I served as a witness in a prior evidentiary hearing.

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Atkins MR/ID Death Penalty Court Decisions: Ortiz v US (2011) and Blue v Thaler (TX, 201)

Thanks to Kevin Foley for sending me two recent Atkins decisions.

The first is Ortiz v US (2011). A prior decisions regarding this case are here. I will not comment on this case as I provided an expert deposition and was also part of the amicus brief by Concerned Experts in Mental Retardation/Intellectual Disability.

The second is Blue v Thaler (TX, 2011), with a prior 2010 decision also being available. Of interest was the courts treatment (or lack thereof) of the Flynn Effect.

"The Court of Criminal Appeals refuses to apply the Flynn Effect in Atkins cases. Blue, 230 S.W.3d at 166 (“This Court has never specifically addressed the scientific validity of the Flynn Effect. Nor will we attempt to do so now. Rather than try to extrapolate an accurate IQ by applying an unexamined scientific concept to an incomplete test score, we will simply regard the record as it comes to us as devoid of any reliable IQ score.”). This comports with the federal jurisprudence stating that the Flynn Effect “has not been accepted in [the Fifth] Circuit as scientifically valid[.]” Mathis, 443 F.3d at 433 n.1 (citing In re Salazar, 443 F.3d 430, 433 n.1 (5th Cir. 2006)). The Court will not apply the Flynn Effect to lower the results of Blue’s IQ scores."

So what we have is a federal appeals court which won't address the Flynn Effect or even mention it by name - all based on a false assumption made in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals - that the FE is an unexamined scientific concept.  I disagree with this assessment as considerable evidence has been presented regarding the scientific acceptance of the Flynn Effect by intelligence scholars.

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Atkins MR/ID Death Penalty Court Decisions: Anderson v Arkansas (2004, 22011)

Thanks (again) to Kevin Foley for sending me the recent Anderson v Arkansas (2011) Atkins decision.  The prior 2004 decision is also available here.

In 2004 Anderson was granted a new sentencing hearing.  He was sentenced to death and file a petition for post-conviction relief.  The petition was denined and that 2011 decison affirms the denial of the petition.

Technorati Tags: Atkins cases, mental retardation, intellectual disability, Anderson v Arkansas, Atkins death penalty, death penalty, capital punishment

Atkins MR/ID death penalty court decision: Update on Sasser v Hobb's (2011)

Here is the latest update for Sasser v Hobbs (2011). Click here for prior post and links to prior files.


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Court Decision: Sasser v Hobbs (AR, 2010)

Sasser v Hobbs (AR, 2010) Atkins court decision is now posted in the Court Decisions blogroll. Given that I served as an expert witness in this case, I will recuse (I've always wanted to use that word) myself from further comment.

intelligence intelligence testing Atkins cases ICDP blog psychology school psychology neuropsychology Forensic psychology criminal psychology criminal justice death penalty capital punishment ABA IQ tests IQ scores adaptive behavior AAIDD mental retardation intellectual disability Sasser v Hobbs Sasser v AR ASVAB Flynn Effect

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iPost: Notable Atkins capital habeas ruling from the Eighth Circuit: Jackson v Norris (AR)

Just received this update on Jackson v Norris Atkins case in the Eighth Circuit court from the SENTENCING LAW AND POLICY blog. Click link below for info
http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2010/08/notable-atkins-capital-habeas-ruling-from-the-eighth-circuit.html

I just found a copy of the ruling and it is available here.  I have not read it or digested it yet. It has been added to the Court Decisions blogroll.

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile). (If message includes an image-double click on it to make larger-if hard to see)

Court Decisions: Weston v Arkansas (2006)

Thanks to Kevin Foley (again) for sending me an Atkins decision from Arkansas that was missing from the ICDP Court Decisions blog roll.  This now makes n=99 different cases that are listed.

The decision is Weston v Arkansas (2006).  The published document is sparse with regard to the ID/MR information, so it is very difficult to ascertain the specific arguments and issues involved in this Atkins case.   The decision indicates that two different mental health experts had tested the defendant and reported IQ scores in the 50's, but the issue of malingering was present, so the case was sent to jury.

Of interest is the Arkansas statute related to Atkins, which is a bit different from most other states.  As extracted from the ruling: Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-618 (Repl. 1997), which states that “there is a rebuttable presumption of mental retardation when a defendant has an intelligence quotient of sixty-five (65) or below,” and, that “no defendant with mental retardation at the time of committing capital murder shall be sentenced to death.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-618(a)(2)"  It is my understanding of the statute that if a person has intellectual functioning measured at 65 or below, that the death penalty cannot apply---and it is the burden of the state to prove otherwise.  For individuals above the score of 65 (65-70/75 range), the burden of proof of ID/MR then shifts to the defendant.

Technorati Tags: psychology, forensic psychology, forensic psychiatry, neuropsychology, intelligence, school psychology, psychometrics, educational psychology, IQ, IQ tests, IQ scores, adaptive behavior, adaptive functioning, intellectual disability, mental retardation, MR, ID, criminal psychology, criminal defense, criminal justice, ABA, American Bar Association, Atkins cases, death penalty, capital punishment, AAIDD, Atkins MR/ID listserv, ICDP blog, Weston v Arkansas 2006

Atkins court decision: Five decisions from Arkansas from 2004-2010

Thanks to Kevin Foley (again) for sending me a batch of Atkins decisions from the state of Arkansas.   Due to time constraints, I'm posting without comment.  They have been added to the Court Decisions blog sidebar.



The cases are:

• Anderson v AR (2004)
• Engram v AR (2004)
• Nance v AR (2005)
• Coulter v AR (2006)
• Miller v AR (2010)

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, forensic psychology, court decisions, criminal psychology, criminal defense, Atkins cases, MR, ID, mental retardation, intellectual disability, death penalty, capital punishment, IQ, IQ scores, ABA, American Bar Association, ISIR, Arkansas and death penalty