Opinion ID: 3176573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Third Prong: Onset during Developmental Years

Text: The final prong of the intellectual disability test requires that the disability manifest before the age of 18. The district court did not clearly err 40 Case: 12-30256 Document: 00513375522 Page: 41 Date Filed: 02/10/2016 No. 12-30256 in finding that Brumfield’s disability manifested during his developmental years. In fact, one of the principal findings of the district court with respect to Brumfield’s deficits in the conceptual skills domain—his poor academic record while in school—necessarily involved finding that the disability manifested before age 18. Brumfield II, 854 F. Supp. 2d at 396. Similarly, the district court credited Swanson’s testimony that while in the eighth grade, Brumfield read at only a third grade level. Id. Although none of the IQ tests was administered to Brumfield prior to the age of 18, Greenspan testified that IQ scores remain stable over time. Additionally, Merikangas evaluated Brumfield and found no physical problems with his brain that would explain his consistent IQ scores between 70 and 75, meaning that Brumfield’s disability stems from some underlying problem he has had all of his life. Finally, the district court pointed to etiological factors such as, inter alia, Brumfield’s low birth weight, fetal distress at birth, and family history of intellectual disability. Id. at 404–05. Although not dispositive, these factors certainly bolster the court’s conclusion that Brumfield’s intellectual disability manifested during his developmental years. Id. at 405. D. Expert Credibility and Brumfield’s Medical History On remand, the State correctly highlights a number of weaknesses in Brumfield’s expert witnesses that undermine their credibility. For example, Greenspan never evaluated Brumfield, Weinstein obtained his Ph.D. from an unaccredited institution, and Swanson diagnosed Brumfield prior to meeting with him. However, the district court explicitly weighed the credibility of different witnesses. Id. at 401. For example, the court pointed out that Blanche “lacked basic knowledge about the AAIDD’s standards until he was deposed in this case shortly before the hearing,” id. at 401, and that Hoppe failed to interview anyone other than Brumfield, id. at 387 n.21. Giving “due 41 Case: 12-30256 Document: 00513375522 Page: 42 Date Filed: 02/10/2016 No. 12-30256 regard” to the “opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witness[es],” Anderson, 470 U.S. at 573 (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a)), we decline to disturb the district court’s findings, see also Dunbar Med. Sys. Inc. v. Gammex Inc., 216 F.3d 441, 453 (5th Cir. 2000) (“The burden of showing that the findings of the district court are clearly erroneous is heavier if the credibility of witnesses is a factor in the trial court’s decision.” (quoting Coury v. Prot, 85 F.3d 244, 254 (5th Cir. 1996))). All of the experts in this case agreed that Brumfield had never been diagnosed with an intellectual disability prior to the Atkins hearing, and the district court was rightly wary about a “made-for-litigation diagnos[i]s.” Brumfield II, 854 F. Supp. 2d at 404. However, Swanson gave the court “a compelling reason to not draw a negative inference due to the lack of childhood diagnosis” by explaining the political incentives in place at the time Brumfield was in school. Id. In doing so, Swanson told a “coherent and facially plausible” story. Anderson, 470 U.S. at 575. Therefore, the district court’s refusal to give preclusive effect to the lack of a previous diagnosis of intellectual disability is not clearly erroneous. Id. Overall, while the State points to evidence that undermines the district court’s conclusion that Brumfield is intellectually disabled, it has not pointed to sufficient evidence to establish that the district court’s finding of intellectual disability was not “plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety.” Id. at 574. Therefore, we hold that the district court committed no clear error.