Opinion ID: 213981
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Florida's Definition of Mental Retardation

Text: In 2001, even before Atkins, the Florida legislature enacted § 921.137, Florida Statutes, which prohibited execution of mentally retarded persons and established a method for determining which capital defendants are mentally retarded. Section 921.137 defines mentally retarded as (1) significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, (2) existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior, and (3) manifested during the period from conception to age 18. Fla. Stat. § 921.137(1). The Florida statute defines significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning as performance that is two or more standard deviations from the mean score on [an authorized] standardized intelligence test. Id. Florida courts have interpreted § 921.137(1)'s definition of significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning to mean an IQ score of 70 or below. Phillips v. State, 984 So.2d 503, 510 (Fla.2008). Section 921.137, however, applies only to those defendants sentenced to death on or after its effective date of June 12, 2001. Fla. Stat. § 921.137(8). Because Turner was sentenced in 1985, this Florida statute does not apply to Turner. Nonetheless, after Atkins, the Florida Supreme Court adopted Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.203, establishing the procedure for all capital defendants raising claims of mental retardation as a bar to execution. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.203; Amendments to Fla. R. Crim. P. & Fla. R. App. P., 875 So.2d 563 (Fla.2004). Rule 3.203's definition of mental retardation is substantially identical to that of § 921.137 and the clinical definitions in Atkins. Compare Fla. Stat. § 921.137(1), with Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.203(b); see also Phillips, 984 So.2d at 509-10. [6] Turner's state postconviction Atkins challenge proceeded under Rule 3.203.