2 Executions Halted: Georgia Inmates Invoke Mental Disabilities to Avoid Death Penalty, Will it Work?

A federal appeals court gave Georgia death row inmate Warren Lee Hill, a temporary last minute reprieve because doctors changed their minds, believing he is mentally disabled. His legal battle to avoid lethal injection likely faces an uphill climb.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday issued a stay less than an hour before Hill was set to die. In a 2-1 decision, the judges said more review of the doctors' statements was needed. Still, Hill faces strict requirements to get his case reconsidered, according to reports of the Associated Press.

Hill was one of two Georgia inmates scheduled to die this week. The other inmate scheduled for execution was Andrew Cook.

Hill was sentenced to die for the 1990 beating death of fellow inmate Joseph Handspike, using a board studded with nails. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for the 1986 slaying of his girlfriend Myra Wright, who was shot 11 times, writes the AP.

Georgia passed a law in 1988, which prohibited the execution of mentally disabled death row inmates, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the execution of mentally disabled offenders was unconstitutional.

Georgia has the strictest standard for death row inmates seeking to avoid execution, requiring them to prove their mental disability beyond a reasonable doubt. Hill's lawyers have long claimed he is mentally disabled. 

The State of Georgia has questioned the credibility of some of the doctors who declared Hill was mentally retarded, saying they had not seen Hill in person since 2000. The government questioned the veracity of the claim based on Hill's very high IQ numbers and his family's claims that he was "the leader of the family," before his trial.

Tags

Mental Retardation, Death Row, Georgia

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