The Berry Case in Mississippi

Observers are watching to see what the Supreme Court does in the case of Earl Berry, scheduled to be executed by Mississippi tonight.  While Berry has raised a lethal injection claim, the real question deals with mental retardation.  Lyle Denniston has the updated report, "A lawyer's mistake and the death penalty ," at SCOTUS Blog.  Links to submissions are at the post.

The death-row inmate next scheduled to be executed in the U.S. — Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi — has two new appeals asking the Supreme Court to spare him temporarily and take up a capital punishment issue it has never decided. In separate petitions filed Monday and Tuesday, Berry’s lawyers argued that a procedural defect — due to a lawyer’s mistake — cannot clear the way for execution of an individual if there is evidence that he is mentally retarded. The Supreme Court had ruled in 2002 that it is unconstitutional to execute anyone who is mentally retarded.

Yesterday's coverage, in this post, had information on the mental retardation issue.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports, "Little left to block tonight's execution."

On Tuesday, Berry's attorneys put their hopes to save his life in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court by filing two appeals.

One argues that Berry is ineligible for the death penalty because he is mentally retarded. The other argues the state's lethal injection process could cause "excruciating pain" that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

Berry was found guilty in 1988 of beating 56-year-old Mary Bounds to death. He kidnapped Bounds outside her Houston church on Nov. 29, 1987, and left her body in a wooded area.

"First, as Earl Berry's school and institutional records show, he has been considered mentally retarded long before the horrible death of Mary Bounds. Berry's prior lawyers utterly failed in following the rules of the Mississippi Supreme Court in presenting this evidence, but that does not change the facts," said Jim Craig, Berry's lead attorney.

Today's Clairon-Ledger also has the editorial, "Death penalty: Justice should be finally served."

The mental retardation index is here.  More on Atkins v. Virginia, the 2002 Supreme Court case is here, via Oyez.