A Florida inmate is claiming that that the state of Florida should not be able to put him to death because of an intellectual disability, I4U reported.
Death row inmate Freddie Lee Hall, 68, was convicted in 1978 for murdering a 21-year old pregnant woman. But now, he believes that he should be exempt from the death penalty because he is mentally disabled.
Raising questions about how states should evaluate claims of mental disability, the Supreme Court will now debate his appeal.
In 2002, the Supreme Court barred states from executing the mentally disabled. However, since then the court has allowed states to set their own rules in determining who should be executed.
Florida, for example, decided that criminals having intelligence test scores higher than 70 are eligible for death penalty. In Freddie Lee Hall's case, he has averaged above 70 on IQ on tests he has taken since 1968, I4U reported.
But Hall argues that he is mentally disabled. Previously, a judge had concluded that Hall had been mentally retarded all his life.
Even though psychiatrists had previously declared Hall to be mentally disabled after examining him, they said that IQ tests alone are not enough of an evidence to prove that he is mentally disabled.
Along with finding that the mental disability began in childhood, accurate diagnosis must also include evaluating an individual's ability to function in society, medical professionals said.
On Monday, five justices expressed their doubts about Florida's practice of barring inmates from claiming mental disability if their IQ score is above 70.
But Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out that Hall's crime was brutal and that he took strategic steps to abduct the victim. Scalia also noted that Hall didn't raise a claim of mental disability in his first 10 years at prison, I4U reported.
Scalia also criticized the American Psychiatric Association. "They change their mind, counsel. This APA is the same organization that once said that homosexuality was a mental disability and now says it's perfectly normal," he said.
