Post by CCADP on Aug 18, 2005 7:00:02 GMT -5
Death-row ruling favors the retarded
Home News Tribune Online 08/18/05
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON — Prosecutors seeking the death penalty in New Jersey must prove defendants who claim they are mentally retarded have the mental capacity that allows them to be executed, a court ruled yesterday.
In most states, defense lawyers who claim their clients are mentally retarded and unfit for execution need to prove a suspect lacks enough intelligence so their life must be spared.
But yesterday's ruling by an appeals panel turns the tables and bucks the national norm. From now on, such cases will require Garden State prosecutors to convince juries that a person claiming mental retardation is not, in fact, retarded.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, said he did not know of any other state that specifically puts the burden on the prosecution.
"It is significant, and it is somewhat unusual," Dieter said. "Most states have put the burden on the defendant."
The ruling came in the case of Porfirio Jimenez, who is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a 10-year-old Morristown boy in 2001. The decision was decried by the county prosecutor.
"Twenty-six other states have addressed this issue by way of either statute or judicial decision, and all have placed the burden on the defendant to prove that he or she was mentally retarded," said Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio.
He said he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Jimenez's lawyers claimed he was mentally retarded when prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling — called the "Atkins Ruling" — declared that executing mentally retarded criminals violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
To prove someone is mentally retarded in a court in New Jersey, a defendant must have an IQ below 70 and cannot be able to function alone in society. Also, the retardation must have started before the accused turned 18.
Prosecutors allege that Jimenez of Morristown followed Walter Contreras Valenzuela home from a carnival, lured him into a wooded area, then sexually assaulted the boy and beat him with a garden tool.
Home News Tribune Online 08/18/05
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Death Penalty
Powered by Topix.net
- advertisements -
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON — Prosecutors seeking the death penalty in New Jersey must prove defendants who claim they are mentally retarded have the mental capacity that allows them to be executed, a court ruled yesterday.
In most states, defense lawyers who claim their clients are mentally retarded and unfit for execution need to prove a suspect lacks enough intelligence so their life must be spared.
But yesterday's ruling by an appeals panel turns the tables and bucks the national norm. From now on, such cases will require Garden State prosecutors to convince juries that a person claiming mental retardation is not, in fact, retarded.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, said he did not know of any other state that specifically puts the burden on the prosecution.
"It is significant, and it is somewhat unusual," Dieter said. "Most states have put the burden on the defendant."
The ruling came in the case of Porfirio Jimenez, who is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a 10-year-old Morristown boy in 2001. The decision was decried by the county prosecutor.
"Twenty-six other states have addressed this issue by way of either statute or judicial decision, and all have placed the burden on the defendant to prove that he or she was mentally retarded," said Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio.
He said he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Jimenez's lawyers claimed he was mentally retarded when prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling — called the "Atkins Ruling" — declared that executing mentally retarded criminals violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
To prove someone is mentally retarded in a court in New Jersey, a defendant must have an IQ below 70 and cannot be able to function alone in society. Also, the retardation must have started before the accused turned 18.
Prosecutors allege that Jimenez of Morristown followed Walter Contreras Valenzuela home from a carnival, lured him into a wooded area, then sexually assaulted the boy and beat him with a garden tool.