Opinion ID: 867411
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Imposing burden on defendant to prove mental retardation

Text: ¶ 23 For the hearing to determine whether Grell has mental retardation, this court instructed the trial court to apply the procedures in A.R.S. § 13-703.02 insofar as is practical in the post-trial posture of this case. Grell I, 205 Ariz. at 64, ¶ 42, 66 P.3d at 1241. The statute places on the defendant. . . the burden of proving mental retardation by clear and convincing evidence in the pretrial hearing. A.R.S. § 13-703.02(G). If the defendant's IQ is 65 or lower, a rebuttable presumption of mental retardation arises. Id. Because the parties here stipulated that Grell's IQ falls between 65 and 70, the trial court accordingly placed the burden on him to prove by clear and convincing evidence that mental retardation renders him ineligible for execution. Grell argues that if the defendant must bear the burden at all, the standard should be to prove retardation by no more than a preponderance of the evidence. ¶ 24 This issue reaches our court because in Atkins, the Supreme Court declined to specify the procedures that states should use to identify mentally retarded individuals, deferring to the states to develop appropriate procedures. Atkins, 536 U.S. at 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242. The Court did so in part in acknowledgement of the lack of consensus regarding which defendants have mental retardation: To the extent there is serious disagreement about the execution of mentally retarded offenders, it is in determining which offenders are in fact retarded. . . . Not all people who claim to be mentally retarded will be so impaired as to fall within the range of mentally retarded offenders about whom there is a national consensus. As was our approach in Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986), with regard to insanity, we leave to the State[s] the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction upon [their] execution of sentences. Id. at 405, 416-417, 477 U.S. 399, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335. Atkins, 536 U.S. at 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242. Although left to the states, the procedures developed must comport with the Constitution. ¶ 25 The Supreme Court has confirmed that states may `regulate the procedures under which [their] laws are carried out, including the burden of producing evidence and the burden of persuasion,' and [their] decision[s] in this regard [are] not subject to proscription under the Due Process Clause unless `[they] offend[ ] some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked fundamental.' Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 201-02, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977) (quoting Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513, 523, 78 S.Ct. 1332, 2 L.Ed.2d 1460 (1958)); see also Medina v. California, 505 U.S. 437, 445, 112 S.Ct. 2572, 120 L.Ed.2d 353 (1992) (calling Patterson the proper analytical approach in evaluating burdens of proof). Grell claims that imposing the burden on a defendant to prove mental retardation by clear and convincing evidence does offend deeply rooted principles. ¶ 26 Grell initially argues that the burden on the issue of mental retardation should not fall on the defendant at all, but rather should be borne by the State. We disagree that the Constitution requires the prosecution to bear this burden. The Supreme Court has held that a state may require that the defendant prove affirmative defenses. E.g., Patterson, 432 U.S. at 206, 97 S.Ct. 2319 (requiring the defendant to prove extreme emotional disturbance); Martin v. Ohio, 480 U.S. 228, 236, 107 S.Ct. 1098, 94 L.Ed.2d 267 (1987) (requiring the defendant to prove self defense). Proof of mental retardation is like proof of an affirmative defense in that it serves to relieve or mitigate a defendant's criminal responsibility, and as with affirmative defenses, the evidence of retardation will lie largely within the possession and control of the defendant. ¶ 27 Because the defendant has superior access to the evidence to prove his mental condition, it is not inappropriate to place the burden on him to do so. See Medina, 505 U.S. at 455, 112 S.Ct. 2572 (O'Connor, J., concurring); cf. Patterson, 432 U.S. at 206, 97 S.Ct. 2319 (to same effect). A critical component of proof of mental retardation is onset before age eighteen. The defendant has better information regarding his condition and superior access to friends and family who knew him before he turned eighteen. Moreover, a defendant has significant motivation to attempt to score poorly on an IQ test, a low score on which triggers a claim of mental retardation. See A.R.S. § 13-703.02(B). Such evidence lies within the defendant's control and may prove difficult for the state to rebut. ¶ 28 New Jersey is the only state, as of this writing, to place the burden of disproving mental retardation on the state. State v. Jimenez, 380 N.J.Super. 1, 880 A.2d 468, 484 (2005). It did so because state law developed under the Ring/Apprendi line of cases treats certain statutory capital triggers like aggravating factors that the state must prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 482-84 (discussing the implications of Ring II, 536 U.S. at 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000)). The court in Jimenez held that mental retardation was essentially such a capital trigger, which under New Jersey law the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. 880 A.2d at 484. Because, however, the absence of mental retardation is neither an aggravating factor nor an element of the capital offense under Arizona law, the rationale supporting the result in Jimenez does not apply here. ¶ 29 We find no constitutional bar to imposing the burden of proving mental retardation on the defendant.