Supreme Court to hear Alabama appeal in push to execute intellectually disabled man

[groundloop]

Source: The Independent

The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Alabama’s Attorney General’s Office in its push to execute an intellectually disabled man, according to an order released early on Friday.

[.....]

In 1997, Smith beat Durk Van Dam to death with a hammer and a saw in Mobile County to steal his boots, tools and $140, Reuters reported. Van Dam’s body was found in his truck in an isolated wooded area.

Lower federal courts found Smith is intellectually disabled and can’t be executed. People who are intellectually disabled are protected from the death penalty following a Supreme Court ruling from 2002.

But this fall, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about what to do in cases when IQ scores are slightly above the widely accepted 70-point marker to determine if someone is intellectually disabled.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/supreme-court-execute-intellectually-disabled-joseph-clifton-smith-b2765542.html

[JT45242]

1. Those tests usually have standard error of about 3 points

There are two approaches...
1. The IEP approach...the score is a hard cut line. Kid with a 72 IQ is dumb, but not "dumb enough" to receive mandatory services. I saw a lot of students over the years in this boat.
Then you have to rely on teachers individually personalizing instruction and giving accomodations for the student.

If they take that approach and the test says 71 or 72 they will execute him.
I think this is wrong but if I were a betting man, this is the 6-3 decision.

2. The statistically defensible position for the highest stakes. If the bottom end of the error of measurement is in the clemency range, then the person cannot be executed.
Since you cannot undo an execution, the proper thing would be to err on the side of caution when the precision of the score is not sufficient to make a judgement.

Given that most of this court asked for a mathematical evaluation of gerrymandering and then rejected it because they were not statisticians, my belief is that the federalist society whack jobs,The sinister six, will gleefully send this person to the death chamber.

It will be a wrong decision, but that is what they will likely do.

[groundloop]

4. In my most humble opinion the proper thing would be to end the death penalty

As you said, once carried out the death penalty is irreversible. It really serves no purpose other than revenge, nobody committing a crime ever thinks about getting caught and what the consequences may be. If someone is guilty of a "capital" crime let them serve the rest of their lives in prison without parole.

[JT45242]

5. I agree...but SCOTUS doesn't

..no other industrialized comparable nation still uses the death penalty...and they all have crime rates lower than ours.

[Wonder Why]

2. "Intellectually disabled" - isn't that the definition of SCOTUS these days?

[moniss]

3. Really it applies to all of the GQP/MAGA people. nt