The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in Pizzuto v. Blades is available in Adobe .pdf format.
"Federal court rejects death row inmate's IQ appeal," is the AP report filed by Rebecca Boone. It's via the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected Idaho death row inmate Gerald Pizzuto Jr.'s claim that he is too mentally disabled to be executed.
A three-judge panel ruled Monday that the Idaho Supreme Court correctly applied federal case law when it found that Pizzuto was eligible for execution.
Pizzuto had appealed his sentence, saying that his IQ was below 70, making it illegal for the state to execute him. But state attorneys have maintained Pizzuto's IQ is actually higher, and that there's no evidence he meets the criteria of Idaho's law banning capital punishment for mentally disabled criminals.
Related posts are in the mental retardation category index. As I often point out, mental retardation is now generally referred to as a developmental or intellectual disability.
Because it has a specific meaning with respect to capital cases, I continue to use the older term on the website. More on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling banning the execution of those with mental retardation, is via Oyez.
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