The US Supreme Court has dismissed Alabama's attempt to execute a convicted murderer who lower courts determined to be intellectually disabled. The decision leaves in place rulings favoring Joseph Clifton Smith, 55, who has spent roughly half his life on death row following his 1997 conviction for beating a man to death.
Background on Intellectual Disability and Execution
The Supreme Court outlawed the execution of intellectually disabled individuals in a landmark 2002 ruling. Subsequent cases in 2014 and 2017 further clarified that states should consider additional evidence of disability in borderline cases, acknowledging the potential for error in IQ tests.
Smith's Case and IQ Scores
Smith's case centered on how courts should handle individuals with multiple IQ scores just above 70, a widely accepted marker for intellectual disability. His five IQ tests ranged from 72 to 78. Lawyers for Smith stated he was placed in learning-disabled classes, left school after seventh grade, and at the time of the crime, performed maths at a kindergarten level, spelled at a third-grade level, and read at a fourth-grade level.
Despite hearing arguments in December on how to approach such borderline cases, the high court opted to dismiss the appeal, an unusual move that upholds the last lower-court ruling.
Court Division
The majority to dismiss the case comprised the three liberal justices, alongside Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The four other conservative justices dissented, criticizing the federal appeals court in Atlanta for its analysis and arguing their colleagues should have ordered a re-examination of Smith's case.
The case is identified as Hamm v. Smith, 24-872.
