Opinion ID: 1109474
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: post-argument assignment of error

Text: In a final post-argument brief, defendant argues the United States Supreme Court's decision in Thompson v. Oklahoma, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702 (1988) and our own decision in State v. Stone, 535 So.2d 362 (La.1988) have import for his case. Those decisions both dealt with the constitutionality of execution of a juvenile. Defendant argues the application of principles in those two decisions would, by analogy, bar the execution of defendant because due to intellectual deficiency, he is a mental juvenile. This issue was raised after this Court granted defendant's writ. Since the case is presently here under supervisory jurisdiction solely for the purpose of review of rulings on pretrial motions, it would be premature for us to consider the constitutionality of a death sentence which has not, and may in fact never be, imposed. At this point, there has not even been a determination of whether the defendant is guilty of the crimes with which he is charged. We also note the United States Supreme Court has granted a writ of certiorari to consider in part the question of whether the state may execute a defendant with the mental age of a seven-year-old child. Penry v. Lynaugh, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 2896, 101 L.Ed.2d 930 (1988). Until a decision in that case is rendered, the law on the question remains uncertain. For these reasons, we pretermit discussion of the issue.