August 5 VIRGINIA: Jurors: Death Row Inmate Not Retarded In Yorktown, a death row inmate whose case led to the Supreme Court's ban on executing the mentally retarded was found mentally competent by a Virginia jury Friday. A judge immediately scheduled his execution for December. Jurors deliberated 13 hours over 2 days before finding Daryl Atkins not mentally retarded. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins' case 3 years ago that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutional. The court, however, left it up to states to determine whether inmates are retarded. If the jury had deemed Atkins retarded, he would have been spared execution and instead sentenced to life in prison for the robbery and slaying of an Air Force enlisted man over beer money. The jury of 6 men and 6 women did not include any blacks. Atkins is black, and the case had been closely watched by civil rights activists. During a court proceeding that the judge said was unique in judicial history, defense lawyers portrayed Atkins as so limited he was cut from the football team because he couldn't understand the plays. The prosecution blamed his poor performance in school on the use of drugs and alcohol, and said the claim of mental retardation was a ploy to avoid execution. Both sides called expert witnesses who disagreed on whether Atkins fell into the category of mentally retarded. An IQ of 70 or less by the age of 18 is required to be considered mentally retarded in Virginia, which also takes into account social skills and the ability to care for oneself. Atkins had scores of 59, 67, 74 and 76 on IQ tests, but they were given when he was older than 18. Atkins was 18 when he and William Jones killed Airman 1st Class Eric Nesbitt, 21. Nesbitt was abducted outside a convenience store, forced to withdraw money from an automated teller machine and driven to a desolate road, where he was shot eight times. Prosecutors said Atkins was the triggerman. A plea agreement was reached with Jones, who testified against Atkins and received a life sentence. 18 states already had laws on the books exempting the mentally retarded from execution before the Supreme Court's ruling in Atkins' case. 8, including Virginia, have revised their laws to comply with the ruling. (source: Associated Press) GEORGIA: Mental competency hearing for death row inmate begins A special jury was seated in Floyd County Superior Court today to decide whether a man who has been on death row since his 1982 murder conviction is "mentally retarded" according to Georgia law. Those deemed "retarded" cannot be put to death. James Randall Rogers, 44, was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for the murder of 75-year-old Grace Perry. Rogers allegedly assaulted and raped Perry before stabbing her with a yard rake at her East 19th Street home. The 6 males and 6 females chosen to evaluate his mental status do not know any of this, however, and will make their decision based solely on expert testimony from psychologists. Jury selection began Monday morning with the questioning of potential jurors. The panel was finally seated today to hear opening statements. Marietta attorney Jimmy Berry, representing Rogers, reminded jurors in his opening this morning that their duty is only to determine the level of his clients basic mental functioning. "This is not a case of whether or not a person knows the difference between right and wrong," he said. In her argument, Chief Assistant District Attorney Martha Jacobs alleged that Rogers is not as innocent as Berry would like to paint him. "You can always dumb yourself down," she said. (source: Rome Tribune)
