Opinion ID: 1805306
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mental Retardation as a Mitigating Circumstance.

Text: ¶ 8. This Court has held that the failure to present a case in mitigation during the sentencing phase of a capital trial is not, per se, ineffective assistance of counsel. Williams v. State, 722 So.2d 447, 450 (Miss.1998) (citing Williams v. Cain, 125 F.3d 269, 277 (5th Cir.1997)). Mitchell argues that trial counsel should have developed and presented evidence of mental retardation during the sentencing phase of the trial. In Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002), the U.S. Supreme Court held that execution of a mentally retarded prisoner violates the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment. In the present case, there is no evidence in the record to suggest that Mitchell is mentally retarded within the meaning of Atkins. In fact, the record shows that Mitchell served four years in the military and attended college at Mississippi Valley State University for one semester. A clinical psychologist interviewed Mitchell for two hours after his arrest for murder in 1974. Dr. Donald Mathorne wrote that it was obvious that the patient had at least average intellectual functioning and a significant deficit in cognitive functioning was not noted during the interview. Consequently, trial counsel cannot be faulted for failing to present mitigating evidence which did not exist. This issue is without merit.