Court Opinion

ID: 9497980
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:05:06.681827+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:32.468354
License: Public Domain

SHEDD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. The district court’s denial of habeas relief on Walton’s mental retardation and insanity claims should be affirmed. The district court properly dismissed Walton’s mental retardation claim because Walton’s habeas petition fails to state sufficient facts demonstrating that he is mentally retarded under Virginia law. Moreover, in deciding that Walton is competent to be executed, the district court applied the proper legal standard, and its findings of fact are not clearly erroneous.
I.
More than eight years ago, Walton murdered three people in the same neighborhood in Danville, Virginia, in two separate incidents.1 Two of the victims were an elderly couple. While burglarizing their home, Walton shot both of them at close range in the top of the head. Walton murdered the other victim, a young man, in his home by shooting him above his left eye. Although the physical evidence alone overwhelmingly established Walton’s guilt, Walton also admitted to several other jail inmates that he committed the murders and described the graphic details of the murders to his cellmate.
' With the assistance of counsel, Walton pled guilty to all three murders, three counts of robbery, one count of burglary, and six counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. After determining that Walton would likely commit additional criminal acts and would be a continuing serious threat to society, the Danville Circuit Court sentenced Walton to death for the three murders.
Walton challenged his convictions on direct appeal, claiming, among other things, that the photographs of the victims as they were discovered should not have been admitted in the sentencing phase because they were too gruesome and that his sentence of death was excessive or disproportionate. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed Walton’s conviction and sentence. Walton v. Commonwealth, 256 Va. 85, 501 S.E.2d 134 (1998). The United States Supreme Court denied Walton’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Walton v. Virginia, 525 U.S. 1046, 119 S.Ct. 602, 142 L.Ed.2d 544 (1998).
Walton then filed a state habeas petition. Among the nine issues he raised, Walton claimed that he was incompetent to stand trial and plead guilty and that his lawyer was ineffective for failing to adequately raise his incompetency to the trial court. The Virginia Supreme Court denied Walton’s habeas petition, Walton v. Warden of Sussex I State Prison (Aug. 9, 1999), and the United States Supreme Court denied Walton’s petition for a writ of certiorari, Walton v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 1076, 120 S.Ct. 1693, 146 L.Ed.2d 499 (2000).
The Danville Circuit Court scheduled Walton’s execution for December 16, 1999. Three days before the scheduled execution, the district court stayed Walton’s execution to allow him to file his first federal habeas petition. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on several of the claims, including Walton’s assertion that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately raise his incompetency to *299the trial court. The district court denied this claim on the merits and denied Walton’s habeas petition in its entirety. Walton v. Angelone, 2002 WL 467142 (W.D.Va.2002) (unpublished).
Walton then sought a certificate of ap-pealability from this court. As to Walton’s claim that his counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately assert that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial or plead guilty during the trial court proceedings, we reviewed the extensive evidence regarding what Walton’s counsel knew about Walton’s mental state during the state trial court proceedings. In the trial court, Walton’s counsel sought the appointment of a mental health professional to analyze Walton. The trial court appointed Dr. Stanton Samenow, a clinical psychologist. When Dr. Samenow raised concerns about Walton’s intermittent odd behavior, the trial court appointed a second mental health professional, a forensic psychiatrist. Ultimately, both mental health professionals determined that Walton was competent to stand trial, ie. that Walton understood precisely the charges against him, he knew that evidence was required to convict him, he was able to assist his lawyers in his own defense, and he realized that he could get the death penalty for his crimes. Based on this evidence and the fact that Walton had told at least two of his fellow inmates that he intended to “play crazy,” Walton’s counsel ultimately decided not to pursue further a claim that Walton was incompetent to stand trial or plead guilty. After reviewing this evidence, we denied Walton’s certificate of appealability, concluding that reasonable jurists would not “find the question of whether Walton was competent at the time of his guilty pleas and/or at the sentencing phase of the ease ‘debatable.’ ” Walton v. Angelone, 321 F.3d 442, 460 (4th Cir.2003). The United States Supreme Court denied Walton’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Walton v. Johnson, 639 U.S. 950, 123 S.Ct. 2626, 156 L.Ed.2d 642 (2003).
Thereafter, the Danville Circuit Court rescheduled Walton’s execution date for May 28, 2003. Just three days before this execution date, the district court granted Walton’s second request for a stay of execution. A panel of this court granted Walton’s request to file a successive habeas petition to allow him to claim for the first time that Virginia may not execute him because he is mentally retarded. In this second federal petition, Walton makes no further attack on his conviction. Walton’s only remaining claims are that he cannot be executed because (1) he is mentally retarded and (2) he is insane. The district court dismissed Walton’s mental retardation claim on the pleadings, Walton v. Johnson, 269 F.Supp.2d 692 (W.D.Va.2003), and denied relief on Walton’s insanity claim after an extensive evidentiary hearing, Walton v. Johnson, 306 F.Supp.2d 597 (W.D.Va.2004). Walton now appeals.
II.
The majority vacates the district court’s dismissal of Walton’s mental retardation claim by concluding that the court failed to assume as true all the facts pleaded by Walton and instead resolved facts in favor of Virginia. By contrast, I would affirm because Walton fails to allege facts in his habeas petition demonstrating that he is mentally retarded under Virginia law.
As the majority correctly notes, the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002), left to the states the task of “developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction” on executing the mentally retarded. Virginia responded by enacting its definition of “mental retardation” requiring, among other things, that the capital defendant’s disabili*300ty originate before the age of 18 and be characterized by “significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean.” Va. Code ANN. § 19.2-264.3:1.1(A). The Virginia Supreme Court, consistent with the standards of the American Psychiatric Association, has determined that this standardized measure corresponds to an IQ score of 70 or less. Johnson v. Commonwealth, 267 Va. 53, 591 S.E.2d 47, 59 (2004), vacated on other grounds, — U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 1589, 161 L.Ed.2d 270, 2005 WL 516756 (U.S. Mar. 7, 2005). Thus, Walton is mentally retarded under Virginia law only if he establishes, among other requirements, that his intellectual functioning would have corresponded to an IQ score of 70 or less before he turned 18.2
A close review of Walton’s habeas petition reveals that he fails to allege facts demonstrating that he is mentally retarded under Virginia law. Walton alleges that his IQ score in 1996, shortly before he turned 18, was 90. Although he claims that “[Ijittle is known” about how this testing was conducted and whether it can be considered reliable, Walton does not allege that this testing somehow tends to prove that he is mentally retarded, ie., that his score on this test actually would have been 70 or less. Walton has the burden to allege facts entitling him to relief, and he cannot meet his burden simply by attempting to discredit the opposing evidence that shows that he is not mentally retarded. Walton also alleges that he received an IQ score of 77 when his trial expert, Dr. Sam-enow, tested him a few months after he turned 18. Although Dr. Samenow did not administer all of the verbal and performance tests available, Walton nevertheless admits that this shortcoming does not “invalidate” the final IQ score. Walton does allege, however, that this score of 77 should be reduced to a “true” score of 72 because it is possible that the “Flynn Effect” affected his score.3 Accepting these allegations as true, Walton still does not state a claim that he is mentally retarded, because Virginia law requires a score of 70 or less before age 18.4
After Virginia filed its motion to dismiss Walton’s habeas petition, Walton alleged for the first time in a separate filing that his test score of 77 supports his claim of mental retardation once the “standard er*301ror of measurement” is taken into account. Even assuming that the district court could consider this representation, which is not in his petition, Walton does not explain what this “standard error of measurement” is, much less how it could reduce his score to 70 or less. Walton can only speculate that the standard measurement error (which a mental health expert can invoke in some cases to either raise or lower a given IQ test score, see id. at 322) actually lowered his given score of 77 enough to meet Virginia’s mental retardation standard. Such conclusory, speculative allegations do not preclude the court’s dismissal of Walton’s claim. See United States v. Roane, 378 F.3d 382, 400 (4th Cir.2004) (concluding that speculative allegations in a habeas petition do not warrant giving the petitioner an evidentiary hearing to further pursue his claim). Accordingly, because Walton failed to specifically allege facts in his habeas petition demonstrating that his intellectual functioning was below the required level before he turned 18, the district court properly dismissed Walton’s mental retardation claim.
The majority, nevertheless, concludes that Walton alleges sufficient facts that, if true, would entitle him to relief. Remarkably, the majority cites to representations in Walton’s appellate briefs, not in his filings to the district court, to find what it deems to be sufficient allegations of mental retardation. For instance, the majority credits Walton’s representation on appeal that his test score of 77 qualifies based on the “Flynn Effect” and “the standard five-point margin of error.” Walton never alleged, however, in his papers to the district court that the measurement error was five points.5
Even accepting as true Walton’s conclu-sory allegations in his appellate briefs, upon which the majority improperly relies, these assertions do not satisfy Walton’s burden of alleging that he is mentally retarded under Virginia law. Walton argues in his appellate brief that “it is possible to diagnose Mental Retardation in individuals with IQs between 70 and 75.” Reply Brief at 21 (emphasis added). He also asserts that “[ejxpert analysis of the specific data is important.” Id. What these arguments acknowledge is that a person with a score between 70 and 75 is at least as likely not to be mentally retarded as to be mentally retarded and that an expert must determine whether a test score between 70 and 75 should be adjusted downward or upward in any particular case. For Walton *302to allege, without the benefit of an expert assessment, that this score should be adjusted downward is mere speculation.6 Thus, even had Walton made these allegations and arguments to the district court, the court properly would have dismissed his claim.
The majority suggests that this case is controlled by our recent opinion in Walker v. True, 399 F.3d 315 (4th Cir.2005). In my view, there are significant differences between this case and Walker, and these differences reveal why the district court properly dismissed this case.
The condemned inmate in Walker scored 76 on an IQ test before he turned 18. Walker alleged that this score actually satisfied the intellectual functioning requirement of the Virginia mental retardation definition, because it actually represented a score of 70 or less after certain factors were taken into account. Id. at 320-22. Importantly, Walker supported these allegations in his petition with affidavits from mental health experts. These experts stated that Walker’s score of 76 should be reduced to 72 based on the “Flynn Effect” and that it should be further reduced (rather than increased) below 70 based on the standard five-point measurement error. Based on their review of Walker’s intellectual functioning and background, the experts opined that Walker was mentally retarded under Virginia law — his intellectual functioning measured below an IQ score of 70 before he turned 18. Id. at 322.
Unlike the condemned inmate in Walker, Walton does not allege in his petition that his IQ test score of 77 should be reduced to 70 or less. Moreover, in his post-petition filings, Walton advances only speculative assertions. Walton has never supported any of his mental retardation allegations, as he is allowed to do in a habeas petition, see Rule 4, Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts (2003), with opinions from mental health experts.7 Despite the fact that Walton has retained several highly qualified psychologists and psychiatrists, none of them has ever opined that this particular IQ test score of 77 supports his mental retardation claim. To the contrary, Walton’s trial expert, Dr. Samenow, testified that Walton’s test score of 77 “most likely is an underestimate of his intelligence.” (Emphasis added). Moreover, while no mental health expert has ever opined that Walton is mentally retarded, Dr. Samenow testified that Walton is “certainly not retarded.” Without some verification by an expert that Walton is mentally retarded, Walton’s self-serving and speculative assertions fail to sufficiently allege that Walton is mentally retarded under Virginia law. Accordingly, the district court properly dismissed Walton’s mental retardation claim.
III.
The majority vacates the district court’s dismissal of Walton’s insanity claim by cre*303ating a new constitutional test for determining competence to be executed. I would affirm because the district court followed the proper test, and its findings of fact are not clearly erroneous.
The district court held two hearings on Walton’s insanity claim. In the first hearing, the district court heard extensive testimony offered by both Walton and Virginia. Following this hearing, the district court decided to appoint Dr. Mark Mills, a forensic psychiatrist, to provide additional evidence relating to Walton’s competence to be executed. After interviewing and assessing Walton, Dr. Mills testified at length at the second hearing. He explained that Walton was cooperative and able to volunteer important-information at the beginning of the interview. For instance, Walton volunteered that he is in prison because he was convicted of killing three people. Walton also knows that he is going to be executed, but he prefers to live in prison the rest of his life rather than be executed. He considers death to be some kind of an end and believes that he will go to heaven and then return to earth. As the interview continued, Walton began responding to questions by immediately and repeatedly stating “I don’t know, I just don’t know.” Dr. Mills explained that this response — which the majority suggests shows that Walton is not competent to be executed — is a sort of defense that Walton uses when he starts to lose focus or becomes 'irritated at continued questioning. Dr. Mills was able to get beyond this defense by asking Walton more structured questions. Based on his assessment, Dr. Mills testified that Walton understands that he is going to be executed and understands that he is going to be executed as punishment for murdering three individuals. In a thorough order, the district court determined that “Walton both understands that he is to be executed and that his execution is punishment for his conviction for murder.” Walton v. Johnson, 306 F.Supp.2d 597, 598 (W.D.Va.2004).
Despite the district court’s extensive hearings and careful findings, the majority concludes that Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986) requires more. In my view, Ford necessitates that we affirm the district court’s judgment.
The petitioner in Ford, a convicted murderer on Florida’s death row, began exhibiting peculiar behavior after he had exhausted all of his direct and collateral appeals. Ford’s lawyers retained a mental health expert to assess him. Ford told the expert that he was free to leave the prison whenever he wanted and that he could not be executed because he had won a landmark case invalidating the death penalty — representations that were obviously incorrect. That expert opined that Ford “had no understanding of why he was being executed [and] made no connection between the homicide of which he had been convicted and the death penalty.” Id. at 403, 106 S.Ct. 2595. Based on their expert’s opinion, Ford’s lawyers sought a reprieve from the death penalty based on his incompetence. Florida law prohibited — as it still does today — the execution of an inmate if he “does not have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the death penalty and why it was imposed on him.” Fla. Stat. Ann. § 922.07(3) (1985 & 2005). The governor, who has sole authority to determine whether a death row inmate is competent to be executed, appointed three psychiatrists to assess Ford in the same 30-min-ute interview. All three of these state-appointed psychiatrists concluded that Ford was able “to understand the nature of the death penalty and the reasons why it was imposed upon him.” Ford, 477 U.S. at 403-04, 106 S.Ct. 2595. Although *304Ford’s lawyers submitted the report of their psychiatrist who believed that Ford was incompetent, the governor did not accept that report for review. Id. at 413, 424, 106 S.Ct. 2595. The governor denied Ford’s request for relief without explanation and instead signed a death warrant. Ford filed a federal habeas petition, but the district court denied the petition without a hearing. Id. at 404, 106 S.Ct. 2595.
In a fractured opinion, the five-member majority of the Supreme Court could agree on only three holdings: (1) the Eighth Amendment forbids the states from executing the insane, id. at 409-10, 419, 106 S.Ct. 2595; (2) Florida’s failure to consider the opposing view of Ford’s psychiatrist violated his due process rights, id. at 413, 424, 106 S.Ct. 2595; and (3) on remand, the district court was required to hold a hearing to consider all the evidence to determine whether Ford was competent to be executed, id. at 418, 424-25, 106 S.Ct. 2595. It is important for purposes of our review to determine what the Ford majority did not decide. The majority did not decide that Florida’s standard for determining incompetence to be executed, ie., whether the condemned inmate “does not have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the death penalty and why it was imposed on him,” was an inadequate legal standard. Instead, the five-member majority decided that the Florida governor and the district court failed to give Ford a fair hearing by refusing to consider all the evidence that bore on the question of whether he was competent. The majority did not establish a new legal standard by which the district court on remand was to judge whether Ford was competent to be executed. To the contrary, the four-member plurality recognized that Florida’s statute properly did not permit the execution of the insane. Id. at 408-09 n. 2, 106 S.Ct. 2595. Its concern was not with the incompetency standard established in the Florida statute but rather with the district court’s failure to consider Ford’s evidence demonstrating his alleged insanity. In concurrence, Justice Powell agreed, stating:
[Ford’s] claim of insanity plainly fits within [the proper] standard. According to [Ford’s] proffered psychiatric examination, [Ford] does not know that he is to be executed, but rather believes that the death penalty has been invalidated. If this assessment is correct, [Ford] cannot connect his execution to the crime for which he was convicted. Thus, the question is whether [Ford’s] evidence entitles him to a hearing in Federal District Court on his claim.
Id. at 422-23, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (emphasis added) (internal citations omitted).
In this case, it is clear that the district court provided Walton all the process he was due under Ford. Whereas in Ford the petitioner was provided no hearing and the governor and the district court failed to consider Ford’s evidence demonstrating his alleged incompetence, the district court in this case held two hearings and considered all the evidence presented by Walton. Not content with the extent of the evidence before it, the district court appointed a neutral expert, Dr. Mills, to further assess Walton’s competence. Dr. Mills corroborated the opinion of Virginia’s expert that Walton is indeed competent to be executed. After its thorough review, the district court found Dr. Mills’ testimony to be particularly persuasive and determined that Walton is competent to be executed. Walton, 306 F.Supp.2d at 601.8 Because *305the district court’s findings of fact are not clearly erroneous, I would affirm its judgment. See Mickens v. Taylor, 240 F.3d 348, 360 (4th Cir.2001) (stating that the district court’s findings of fact in a § 2255 proceeding are subject to the clearly erroneous standard set forth in Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a)).
The majority in this case, nevertheless, insists that Ford requires still more. According to the majority, Ford pronounces the substantive test that states must use to determine whether a condemned inmate is competent to be executed. This holding is at odds with the majority’s earlier correct acknowledgment that the Court in Ford “did not define insanity or mandate procedures that courts must follow in determining whether a defendant is insane [but instead] left those tasks to the states.” Even more remarkably, the majority in this case insists that Ford’s purported substantive legal test includes a prong that no other court interpreting Ford has ever required. According to the majority’s new test, a condemned inmate cannot be executed unless he is able to “prepare for his passing. ”9
This new prong is simply not part of the Ford holding. Ford’s four-member plurality did not create a new definition of insanity different from the test required in the Florida statute. Instead, the plurality focused primarily on the process necessary to make an insanity determination. The Ford plurality explained that the reason it was deciding the substantive Eighth Amendment issue was to determine whether the procedures Florida followed in Ford’s case were adequate. Ford, 477 U.S. at 405, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (stating that the “adequacy of the procedures chosen by a State to determine sanity, therefore, will depend upon ... whether the Constitution places a substantive restriction on the State’s power to take the life of an insane prisoner” (emphasis added)). To underscore this point, Justice Powell in his concurrence correctly recognized that the plurality did not address the “meaning of insanity” in the context of competence to be executed. Id. at 418, 106 S.Ct. 2595.
The majority in this case, nevertheless, cobbles together stray dicta from Ford to suggest that the Court held that the proper substantive test for determining competence to be executed requires consideration of whether the condemned inmate is able to prepare for his passing. This holding is not mandated by the plurality opinion, nor is it fairly implied by Justice Powell’s concurrence.10 In fact, the Ford *306plurality does not establish a standard for insanity, and Justice Powell’s concurrence — the only place the proper legal standard is explicitly addressed — adopted a two-prong test comparable to the Florida statutory standard. Justice Powell plainly stated: “Accordingly, I would hold that the Eighth Amendment forbids the execution only of those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer and why they are to suffer it.” Id. at 422, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (emphasis added).11
None of the four other circuits that have addressed the issue of competency to be executed has held that Ford requires states to determine whether a condemned inmate is able to “prepare for his passing.” To the contrary, all these circuits have recognized Justice Powell’s proffered holding — which is essentially the same test Florida followed in 1985 and continues to follow today — as an appropriate standard by which to determine competence. See Massie v. Woodford, 244 F.3d 1192, 1195 n. 1 (9th Cir.2001) (citing Ford for the proposition that “the Eighth Amendment forbids the execution only of those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer and why they are to suffer it”); Coe v. Bell, 209 F.3d 815, 826 (6th Cir.2000) (concluding that “Justice Powell’s standard, that ‘only those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer and the reason they are to suffer it are entitled to a reprieve,’ satisfies due process”); Barnard v. Collins, 13 F.3d 871, 876 (5th Cir.1994) (recognizing the “Ford standard, i.e., that a prisoner must understand the fact of his impending execution and the reason for it”); Rector v. Clark, 923 F.2d 570, 572 (8th Cir.1991) (stating that “according to Ford, we must examine two factors in assessing petitioner’s competency to be executed: (1) whether petitioner understands that he is to be punished by execution; and (2) whether petitioner understands why he is being punished”). I agree with these circuits that the Ford test does not require a state to determine whether an inmate is able to “prepare for his passing” when deciding his competence to be executed.12
The majority’s new competence test suffers not only from a faulty legal basis but also from vagueness. The majority seems to recognize this problem by its failure to provide any sort of guidance as to what a state or court must do or consider in deciding whether an inmate is able to prepare for his passing. Moreover, even if Ford could be read to add this new requirement (which it cannot), this third prong is so open-ended and controlled by the inmate that courts might never find that it is met. Requiring this new prong effectively precludes capital punishment for any condemned inmate who even raises a claim of insanity.
*307In this case, the district court followed the proper test to determine whether Walton is competent to be executed.13 The court considered all the evidence presented by both sides and also appointed an additional psychiatrist to assess Walton. Based on its review of the evidence, the district court determined that Walton understands that he is to be executed for murdering three individuals. The district court afforded Walton all the protections constitutionally required, and I would affirm the district court’s judgment that Walton is competent to be executed.
IV.
I would affirm the district court’s judgment denying Walton’s habeas corpus petition on both his mental retardation and insanity claims.

. Walton was no stranger to crime before he murdered these three people. His prior convictions include burglary, grand larceny, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, juvenile possession of a firearm, and assault and battery.

.This does not mean that a condemned inmate must submit a score of 70 or less from an IQ test taken before he turned 18. Walker v. True, 399 F.3d 315, 323 n. 7 (4th Cir.2005). Nevertheless, there must be some allegation that the inmate's intellectual functioning would have fallen below this standard before he turned 18. See Va. Code Ann § 19.2-264.3:1.1(A),(B)(3). For instance, evidence of an IQ test score below 70 taken after a condemned inmate reaches 18 may be sufficient if a mental health expert verifies that the inmate’s intellectual functioning before he turned 18 would have been consistent with this qualifying test score. See Atkins, 536 U.S. at 309 n. 5, 122 S.Ct. 2242. In this case, however, none of the experts who assessed Walton opined that he is mentally retarded under Virginia's statutory definition.

. On appeal, Walton indicates, without explanation, that the "Flynn Effect” would reduce his score of 77 to 74, not 72.

. Walton also alleges that he was tested two other times well after he turned 18 and that both test results are below 70. Although these test results are relevant to Walton’s more current intellectual functioning, see Walker, 399 F.3d at 323 n. 7, Walton does not allege that these scores demonstrate his intellectual functioning before he turned 18. In fact, the expert who gave the test on which Walton received his lowest score stated that she does not consider Walton to be mentally retarded. Thus, these two scores do not meet the developmental origin requirement of Virginia's mental retardation standard.

. In response, the majority states that a hearing transcript excerpt shows that Walton's counsel represented to the district court that his IQ score of 77 would be as low as 69. A review of this transcript, however, reveals that this statement by counsel is not sufficient to entitle Walton to relief. Counsel states that Walton’s score of 77 would result in a score of 69 after fully taking into account the “Flynn Effect” and the five-point standard measurement error. As explained above, the standard measurement error does not automatically reduce a test score by five points. Instead, it is a plus or minus range that a mental health expert can use to either reduce or increase a test score after assessing a particular person. Although I agree that we can take judicial notice of the existence of the plus or minus five-point standard measurement error range, we cannot take judicial notice that a particular person is automatically entitled to a full five-point reduction. Without a proper basis for asserting that Walton’s test score should be reduced by the full five points possible, the best Walton’s counsel can competently represent is that Walton's score is somewhere between 69 and 79. Accordingly, for Walton's counsel to suggest that Walton’s score would be 69 rather than 79 or some other number in between is nothing more than speculative opinion, not an allegation of fact. See Roane, 378 F.3d at 400. In fact, the only mental health expert who has specifically addressed whether the test score of 77 should be adjusted is Walton’s trial expert, Dr. Same-now, who testified that Walton's score should probably be higher than 77.

. It is implicit in the Virginia statute that mental retardation ordinarily cannot be diagnosed in a particular person without the assessment and opinion of a mental health expert. For example, the Virginia statute requires that "[ajssessment of intellectual functioning shall include administration of at least one standardized measure generally accepted by the field of psychological testing.” Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-264.3:1.1(B)(1) (emphasis added). Also, determining whether the disability originated before 18 “shall be based on multiple sources of information generally accepted by the field of psychological testing and appropriate for the particular defendant being assessed." Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-264.3:1.1(B)(3) (emphasis added).

. Walton attached to his petition affidavits and reports from his mental health experts in support of his insanity claim but not his mental retardation claim.

. The majority suggests that the district court in the March 2004 hearing improperly limited Walton’s counsel to asking the expert witnesses specifically whether Walton understood that he was to be executed for killing three people. Contrary to what the majority *305suggests, the district court prevented Walton’s counsel only from asking Dr. Mills his impressions of the district court's interpretation of the Ford legal standard, a clearly improper line of questioning. The district court otherwise permitted Walton's counsel to question the experts on a wide range of factual topics, including whether they believe Walton is able to prepare for his death. Although Dr. Mills testified that he did not believe that Walton would prepare for his passing, that belief did not affect his firm opinion that Walton understood that he was going to be executed for killing three people. Walton's counsel was also allowed to ask his retained expert whether he thought Walton could prepare for his death. The expert could only manage that he "would have some difficulty answering” that question but thought that Walton would probably not be able to say goodbye to people, turn off emotional relations, or make arrangements to dispose of his property. Thus, the district court did not improperly limit the evidence at the hearing.

. Although I disagree with the majority's creating this new prong, I agree with its separate holding that Ford does not require a condemned inmate to be able to assist his counsel to be competent to be executed.

. The majority complains that I refuse to recognize which parts of Ford make up the opinion of the Court. The majority is simply mistaken. We do not disagree over which parts of Ford are agreed to by five members of *306the Court. Instead, we disagree over how to interpret the holding of the Court's opinion. As explained below, my interpretation of the holding of Ford is consistent with the four other circuits that have addressed the issue. The majority’s interpretation, which creates a new prong of the incompetence test, stands alone.

. After proffering this precise standard, Justice Powell acknowledged that it is the same as Florida's standard: "[Ford] concedes that the Governor of Florida has determined that he is not insane under the standard prescribed by Florida’s statute, which is the same as the standard just described." Id. at 423, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (emphasis added).

. Importantly, the Supreme Court — albeit in dicta — has also recognized Justice Powell's two-part test in Ford as a proper standard by which to determine whether a person is competent to be executed. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 333, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989), overruled on other grounds by Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002).

. The issue before this court is not whether it would be wise to expand the Ford test to include new factors, including whether a condemned inmate must be able to prepare for his passing. The issue that we must decide is what Ford mandates. The Supreme Court is, of course, free to expand the test if it decides that a different standard is constitutionally required.