Opinion ID: 1811437
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Executing mentally retarded persons constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Text: Defendant's case is governed by the recent decision from the United States Supreme Court, Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335. In Atkins, the Court held that executing mentally retarded offenders is excessive under the Eighth Amendment, which `places a substantive restriction on the State's power to take the life.' Atkins, 536 U.S. at ___, 122 S.Ct. at 2252 ( quoting Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 405, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 2599, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986) (Eighth Amendment precludes execution of the insane.)). [20] This court is bound by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Atkins. Atkins is based on the evolving standards of decency that have occurred since the 13-year-old decision in Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989), allowed execution of a mentally retarded defendant. The Court noted that during the interim between Atkins and Penry, the practice of executing mentally retarded persons had become truly unusual. Thus, the Court found a national consensus had developed against such executions. Construing the Eighth Amendment in light of this documented evolution, the Court concluded execution of the mentally retarded was excessive and thus constitutionally barred. The Court reasoned that the mentally retarded, while not exempt from criminal sanctions, have diminished personal culpability. Further, mentally retarded defendants as a whole face a special risk of wrongful execution. Thus, the 13-year-old Penry precedent of allowing execution of a mentally retarded defendant is now a relic of the past. [21] In Atkins, while extending Eighth Amendment protection to the mentally retarded, the United States Supreme Court left the imposition of the new rule to the states: As was our approach in Ford v. Wainwright , with regard to insanity, we leave to the States the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction upon its execution of sentences. 477 U.S. 399, 405, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986). Atkins, 536 U.S. at ___, 122 S.Ct. at 2250. Although the United States Supreme Court left the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction against execution of the mentally retarded to the states, the Court provided guidance in some areas. The Court adopted a clinical definition of mental retardation which requires not only subaverage intellectual functioning, but also significant limitations in adaptive skills such as communication, self-care, and self-direction which became manifest before the age of 18. Id., 536 U.S. at ___, 122 S.Ct. at 2250. This definition is based on the definition developed by the American Association of Mental Retardation (AAMR) [22] and is the definition utilized by the federal government [23] and in some form by most of the states that have statutes prohibiting the execution of the mentally retarded. [24] It also closely follows the definition in AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION, DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS 41 (4th ed.2000). [25] The Supreme Court acknowledged there is serious disagreement about ... determining which offenders are in fact retarded. Atkins, 536 U.S. at ___, 122 S.Ct. at 2250. Realistically, the Court noted that not all persons who claim to be mentally retarded will be so impaired as to fall within the group entitled to the Atkins prohibition against the death penalty. Noting that state statutory definitions of mental retardation are not identical, but are generally in conformity with the definitions cited in Atkins, the Court, nonetheless, left to the states the task of developing appropriate ways to determine which offenders will be spared the death penalty because of mental retardation. While Louisiana is not one of the states that has directly addressed, either legislatively or jurisprudentially, the issue of mental retardation in the criminal context, the revised statutes contain a definition of mental retardation for the purpose of determining those individuals who qualify for mental retardation and developmental disabilities services. Louisiana Revised Statutes 28:381(28) provides: Mental retardation means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior, and manifested during the developmental period. General intellectual functioning is shown by the results obtained by assessment with one or more of the individually administered general intelligence tests developed for that purpose. LSA-R.S. 28:381(18). To be significantly subaverage in general intellectual functioning, one must be more than two standard deviations below the mean for the test of intellectual functioning. LSA-R.S. 28:381(42). [26] Louisiana Revised Statutes 28:381(12) provides: Developmental disability means a severe chronic disability of a person: (a) That is attributable to: (i) Mental retardation . . . . (b) That is manifested before the person reaches age 22. (c) That is likely to continue indefinitely. (d) That results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: (i) Self-care. (ii) Understanding and use of language. (iii) Learning. (iv) Mobility. (v) Self-direction. (vi) Capacity for independent living. Thus, it appears there is a general consensus as to the definition and diagnosis of mental retardation. However, because at the present time Louisiana is without a legislative mandate to utilize any specific definition with respect to Atkins claims, this court must decide which of these definitions should be used. Apparently, all would be acceptable under the Supreme Court's mandate in Atkins. An apparent universal agreement is reflected in Louisiana's definitions in LSA-R.S. 28:381, that a diagnosis of mental retardation has three distinct components: (1) subaverage intelligence, as measured by objective standardized IQ tests; (2) significant impairment in several areas of adaptive skills; and (3) manifestations of this neuro-psychological disorder in the developmental stage, i.e., by the age of 22 years. [27] Given this particular defendant's age he will not be 22 until December 2003it would be inappropriate, based on the present record, for this court to determine whether or not the defendant is indeed mentally retarded. Instead, a remand of the case for a full evidentiary hearing to determine whether or not the defendant is mentally retarded using Louisiana's existing statutory definition is warranted. An evidentiary hearing will allow the introduction of evidence to determine whether the defendant is mentally retarded based on the criteria established in LSA-R.S. 28:381. In the instant case, it is undisputed that the issue of whether defendant is mentally retarded, and thus protected from the ultimate punishment of death based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Atkins, has not been presented to the fact finder for determination. Such a determination is within the milieu of the trial court, not this reviewing court. Thus, we defer review of the penalty phase of defendant's trial pursuant to LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 905.9 and La. Sup.Ct. R. 28, and remand the case to the trial court for a hearing and determination of whether defendant, Corey Williams, is mentally retarded. We note that although defendant's IQ is 68, [28] the defense's own expert testified unequivocally, at both the guilt and penalty phases of trial, that defendant is not mentally retarded. His assessment is based on the fact that defendant is not deficient in adaptive functioning, but copes well with common life demands and the standards of personal independence. Dr. Vigen concluded that, while defendant has a low IQ, [29] he is street smart, and thus, not mentally retarded. Atkins also subscribed to the diagnostic criteria that the onset of mental retardation must occur before the age of 18 years. Atkins, 536 U.S. at ___ n. 3, 122 S.Ct at 2245 n. 3. In the instant case, defendant had at least four psychiatric hospitalizations beginning from approximately age 13. However, defendant was voluntarily admitted to these institutions at times close to his various juvenile court date appearances. Thus, while the defense argues that these hospitalization records support defendant's history of mental illness, Dr. Vigen interpreted the Highland Hills hospital records as indicating that the hospital had determined defendant was not mentally retarded. [30] He then surmised, I don't know that he's ever been diagnosed as mentally retarded. In response to this court's invitation to file a supplemental brief specifically addressing the impact (or lack thereof) of Atkins on this case, appellate counsel launched a twofold attack on the defense expert. First, counsel filed a motion to enlarge the present appellate record with a copy of a June 1996 psychological assessment of the defendant after his commitment to the Jetson Correctional Center for Youth in Baker, Louisiana. According to counsel, the report shows that: 1) defendant's group-screening intelligence test results were suggestive of mental retardation; 2) an individual intellectual assessment by officials at Jetson confirmed a full scale IQ score of 65; 3) defendant's diagnosis was mild mental retardation; and 4) defendant stated he had received head injuries when struck by an 18 wheeler truck. Also according to counsel, although the State purportedly filed the defendant's juvenile records, including his records from Jetson, into the appellate record, the critical Jetson diagnostic report was not included. It surfaced only after counsel obtained the case file from one of defendant's trial attorneys and found the report in a set of the defendant's Department of Corrections (DOC) files. [31] Appellate counsel argues that, at the least, the defendant is entitled to a remand of this case to the district court for purposes of exploring this official diagnostic impression by an arm of the DOC that may exempt the defendant from capital punishment. We agree. If the document is authentic, it shows that Dr. Vigen based his opinion on less than a complete history of defendant's diagnoses and treatment. Full disclosure of that history would have required Dr. Vigen to resolve the discrepancy between his conclusion that the Highland Hills hospital records excluded a diagnosis of mental retardation in 1995, and the Jetson evaluation of mental retardation less than a year later, a process that might have led to a change in his own evaluation. Second, appellate counsel confronts Dr. Vigen's opinion that defendant's adaptive skills excluded a diagnosis of mental retardation (despite an IQ in the mild mental retardation range) because he was street smart. On the basis of the available materials filed into the record, counsel points out that Dr. Vigen did not perform any formal tests to determine the defendant's adaptive skills, a glaring omission in view of the test results from Fairfield Hospital indicating that the defendant's GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning Scale) was 35, on a scale of 100, at which 90 represents good functioning in all areas. To the extent that appellate counsel has uncovered the Jetson report indicating that the DOC classified the defendant as mentally retarded over a year before the present crime and well before he reached the age of 18, counsel has illustrated the record is incomplete and, thus, this court cannot make a determination whether defendant is mentally retarded based on this record. Therefore, this case is remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to resolve the discrepancies in the defendant's records relating to a diagnosis of mental retardation. While this court will not consider matters not in the record and we pass no judgment on the validity of these records, we note these records are generated by the State, but most significantly, Atkins changed what would be considered relevant. Prior to the trial, mental retardation was merely a factor in mitigation. Post Atkins, mental retardation is a complete prohibition against imposition of the death penalty according to the United States Supreme Court. We hasten to point out that not everyone faced with a death penalty sentence will automatically be entitled to a post- Atkins hearing. It will be an individual defendant's burden to provide objective factors that will put at issue the fact of mental retardation. See text accompanying footnote 33, infra. A defendant's entitlement to a post- Atkins hearing will be made on a case-by-case basis. Our review of the record convinces us this case warrants a hearing. Corey Williams is an African-American male born on December 13, 1981. The defendant's mother admitted to drinking alcohol during her pregnancy with defendant. According to school records, as early as age nine, defendant was in special classes at Oak Park Elementary School. He was placed in special ed in 1988 (seventh grade), classified as learning disabled/speech impaired. The defendant advanced through the public school system without making much measurable progress toward learning. He attended J.S. Clark Middle School and was enrolled at Booker T. Washington High School at the time of the instant offense. His grades in school were mostly D's and F's. On May 24, 1995, at age 13, defendant was admitted to Fairfield Hospital following a suicide attempt in which he tried to jump off a bridge. In approximately September 1995, defendant was placed in Highland Hills Hospital (a facility that specializes in treating adolescents with behavioral and emotional problems). While there, the defendant displayed immature behavior such as thumb sucking and nocturnal enuresis (bed-wetting). The defendant had a prescription history of anti-depressant medications, including Prozac and Zoloft. In sum, this defendant is an individual who: 1) was 16 years of age [32] at the time of the murder, still within the developmental stage by any definition of that term; 2) will not be 22 years of age until 2003, still within the development stage by Louisiana's statutory definition; 3) has an IQ within the range used in the diagnosis of mental retardation; 4) suffered from lead poisoning as an infant and had numerous mental health commitments prior to the age of 15; 5) was enrolled in special ed classes; and 6) has not had the issue of mental retardation put before the fact finder in light of the Atkins restriction on the death penalty. Thus, this court concludes the defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing which will give him an opportunity to prove he is mentally retarded pursuant to the definitions of LSA-R.S. 28:381, and, under Atkins, not subject to the death penalty. Defendant's case will be remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of mental retardation only. By virtue of this remand, this court is not in any manner indicating an opinion on whether or not defendant is mentally retarded. Rather, we are remanding for a determination of that issue. Although defendant's expert opined he is not mentally retarded, this factual/legal determination, guided by experts capable of diagnosing mental retardation, must be made at the trial court level, based on the factors listed above. At the hearing, the trial court must specifically determine whether or not the defendant is mentally retarded, but should not necessarily consider the full measure of mitigating circumstances considered during the penalty phase of the trial. While some factors of defendant's personal history may be relevant to both mitigation and the determination of mental retardation, mitigating factors not relevant to the determination of whether or not the defendant is mentally retarded should not be considered.