Opinion ID: 2543852
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Low IQ

Text: In evaluating Ault's low IQ as a proposed nonstatutory mitigating circumstance, the trial court's sentencing order stated that there was no evidence supporting a low IQ. The trial court further stated that the only testimony regarding the defendant's IQ was that of Dr. Carter, who indicated that Ault's intellectual functioning was below average. In the portion of Dr. Carter's testimony cited in the sentencing order, Dr. Carter stated that, in the testing she conducted, Ault received an overall IQ score of 80, with a range of 78 to 84. She also found that his verbal IQ was 77 with a range of 73 to 83, and his performance IQ was 87 with a range of 81 to 95. Dr. Carter explained that an average score is 100, and that a person is considered to be within normal limits if their score is between 85 and 115. She stated that Ault was not mentally retarded, but that he scored in a low average to borderline range on his IQ test. Low intelligence has been recognized as valid mitigation in capital sentencing. See Thompson v. State, 648 So.2d 692, 697 (Fla. 1994). Admittedly, Ault's low/borderline IQ score appears to have been slightly higher than in other cases where low intelligence has been weighed as mitigation. See, e.g., Crook, 813 So.2d at 77 (stating that the appellant's IQ was found to be as low as 62 or 69 and as high as the low 70s); Jones v. State, 705 So.2d 1364, 1366 (Fla.1998) (stating that an IQ of 76 was weighed as mitigation). However, this fact goes toward the weight of the mitigation, not whether it should have been found as mitigation. Because the trial court failed to cite any evidence contradicting the finding of the only expert who testified on the issue, we find that its rejection of this mitigating circumstance was error. See Coday, 946 So.2d at 1005 (explaining that expert testimony in support of mitigation could be rejected only if it did not square with other evidence in the case).