Opinion ID: 2709205
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Penalty phase and post‐trial motions

Text: During the penalty phase, the defense presented mitiga‐ tion evidence. Dr. Linda Wetzel found that Kidd’s 1993 IQ test score, 73, placed him in the borderline mentally retarded range according to one accepted classification scheme, and “at the high end of the mentally retarded range of intelli‐ gence” according to another. Moreover, Kidd had a seizure disorder and suffered from “impaired brain functions.” His memory and concentration were very poor; if sentences be‐ came too complex, Kidd needed repetition and for the speaker to slow down. However, she found that Kidd was “good at expressing himself.” Another defense expert, Dr. George Savarese, testified that Kidd had been diagnosed as mentally retarded three times during his youth (after IQ tests of 64, 67, and 63 in 1968, 1971, and 1976, respectively). The parties also stipulated that the state’s psychiatrist ex‐ amined Kidd in 1985 and said he was malingering. Ultimate‐ ly, Kidd was again sentenced to death. (In 2003, Illinois Gov‐ No. 12‐2614 9 ernor George Ryan commuted all death sentences, Kidd’s included, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.) Strunck and Kidd both filed post‐trial motions for acquit‐ tal, which the trial court denied. In his pro se motion, Kidd claimed that during his trial he used cocaine, marijuana, and the antidepressant Sinequan, which he said he took under medical direction. He asserted that Sinequan made him drowsy during trial. He did not specify which drugs, if any, he had used at the time of his waiver. The trial court did not find Kidd’s account credible, saying that Kidd “was compe‐ tent, was totally mentally fit, he was sober as anyone in the Courtroom, and he didn’t do a bad job as his own lawyer.”