Supreme Court Rejects Warren Hill's Habeas Petition

"High court denies Warren Hill’s petition," is by Bill Rankin for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider Warren Hill’s bid to halt his execution on grounds he is mentally retarded.

Hill’s lawyers had filed the petition directly to the high court, saying they now have evidence that shows they can prove Hill is mentally retarded and thus ineligible for execution. But the high court on Monday issued an order denying it.

And:

Hill’s execution remains on hold while the Georgia Supreme Court hears his challenge to a new state law that keeps secret the identities of those who make and supply Georgia’s lethal-injection drugs.

The Supreme Court Order List is available in Adobe .pdf format.

Warren Hill's attorney, Brian Kammer, has issued the following statement:

“We are gravely disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to act to ensure the protection for persons with intellectual disability that was promised by the Court’s 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia.

It is the unanimous opinion of all doctors who have examined him that Mr. Hill is a person with mental retardation. However, Mr. Hill has been procedurally barred from proving his exemption from capital punishment, which is why he brought his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the hopes that the Court would ensure that the evidence of his intellectual disability would be heard.

It is tragic that our highest court has failed to enforce its own command that persons with mental retardation are categorically ineligible for the death penalty.”

Earlier coverage of Warren Hill's case begins at the link.

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.