Your IQ's gone up - now we can execute you

[WhiteTara]

A CONVICTED murderer spared from Death Row because he was judged to be mentally retarded could now face execution after his IQ was found to have risen by at least 15 points.

Daryl Atkins, 27, who had an IQ of 59 in 1998, scored a historic victory in the United States Supreme Court three years ago when judges ruled that executing mentally retarded criminals was unconstitutional.

snip

Now, however, he could face death by lethal injection after he recorded a higher test score of at least 74, placing him just above Virginia's threshold of 70.

Dr Evan Nelson, who tested Atkins in 1998 and 2004, wrote in a report last year that "his constant contact with the many lawyers that worked on his case" gave him more intellectual stimulation in jail than he got during childhood.

who are we? I don't think human after this article
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1682232005

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. We are "the good guys".... haven't you heard??

[Occulus]

2. Oh my GOD.

So, having repeated contect with lawyers and other educational material and situations may make you smart enough to be put to death if you are 'retarded' in the first place.

Please allow me to officially go on record as being opposed to any form of death penalty being imposed within US borders.

This shit is sick.

[Wickerman]

3. Dr Nelson, if he were ethical, would say that the premorbid intelligence

or the intelligence at the time of the crime is what is important. Yeah, he may now, on paper, understand why he "must" die, but that doesn't mean that when he had an IQ of 59 he understood the full implications of actions.

[dave502d]

4. Did he murderer someone with his knew IQ?

Could he say let me out now,You see with my knew IQ i know it wrong to murder.

[goforit]

5. I think I've heard everything now.

[VegasWolf]

6. So now he can appreciate the irony of his execution? What a joke

this legal system is! Seems to me that this is analogous to executing a recovered and now sane individual who had committed a crime while insane.

:mad:

[WhiteTara]

7. based on that, execute Hinckley

I know he didn't kill Raygun, but attempted assasination should have some severe penalties. Especially since he is bush the meaner's relative.

[54anickel]

8. WTF? "His legal campaign spared dozens of prisoners from Death Row"

So, can they all be periodically tested and if they score high enough go back to Death Row? This is nuts!!!

[Heddi]

9. Isn't the point SUPPOSED to be that at the time of his crime

his IQ was low, therefore making him mentally retarded at the time, which is why his execution was deemed unconstitutional.

So his IQ went up in jail---so what? He was, AT THE TIME OF THE CRIME (which is what he is on death row for), MENTALLY RETARDED.

That's like someone murdering someone and going to jail for 10 years because they never went to jail before (no prior record). However, upon entering the jail, their sentence is automatically increased to life in prison because hey! they're a prisoner now, and therefore have a record. Of course it doesn't make any more sense than this case.

This is just disgusting, and fully underlines one of the NUMEROUS reasons why I oppose the death penalty in all cases.

[dsc]

10. In fairness they do have a quite different argument than some here

are positing them to have.

But prosecutors claim Atkins had covered up his intelligence at the earlier test and was mentally competent to face the death penalty.

snip

Prosecutors, however, say that if Atkins was competent enough to use a firearm and then concoct a story during a police interview, during which he attempted to cover up his crime, his mental capacity is at a level that makes him culpable. His crime required planning and forethought, they say.

They also point out that Atkins has previously boasted of being a fan of television gameshows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and claimed to solve the puzzles "before anyone else can".

"I know people who are truly mentally retarded, and Daryl Atkins is not one of them," prosecutor Eileen Addison said in 2003.

end of quote

I am not saying that it is right to execute him, I am against the DP in all circumstances, nor am I saying they are right that he dogged the first test, but it is wholly dishonest to claim they acknowledge that his IQ got better so he should be executed. They are claiming his IQ was always this high.

[Psephos]

11. IQ is generally understood to not be changeable by more than a few points

Look no farther than * after Harvard Business School if you want to see how much effect a stimulating and intellectual environment can have on IQ.

Besides, does anyone seriously believe repeated exposure to LAWYERS makes you bristle with intelligence?

Seriously, this is just one more of the inanities that result from having to codify the practice of state killing into law.

The death penalty kills innocent people, retarded people, and people who would have gotten a different sentence from another judge or jury. So much for equal treatment under the law.

Of course we must punish or neutralize the criminals, but for God's sake not in a way that prevents us from correcting mistakes. Equally important, we must not abandon our own humanity to correct the lack of it in someone else.

Peace.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Death row inmate's intelligence at center of jury trial

Death row inmate's intelligence at center of jury trial

By Sue Lindsey
ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:09 p.m. July 25, 2005

YORKTOWN, Va. – Prospective jurors were questioned Monday for a trial that will determine whether a man whose case led to the Supreme Court ban on executing the mentally retarded falls into that category himself.
(snip)

Atkins, 27, has been on death row since 1998 for the robbery and murder of an Air Force enlisted man.
(snip)

Atkins' lawyers bear the burden of proving that the slight, balding man is mentally retarded. If they do not do so, the judge told the potential jurors, another court has already determined that he will be executed.
(snip)

Atkins, who did not finish high school, scored 59 on an IQ test in 1998, but had scores as high as 74 and 76 on more recent tests. Virginia law also requires that mental retardation be determined by age 18, but Atkins was not tested as a youth.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050725-1709-deathrow-retarded.html

[DS1]

13. Well of course he has to be executed

A man who only possesses any IQ points above 60 that stem from the direct interaction with lawyers is nothing but a shark with legs.

:sarcasm:

[bassman79]

14. I ain't cryin for him

if he murdered innocent people.

[WhiteTara]

17. bassman, I hope you never fu*k up

because with an attitude like that, there will be no mercy for you.
Good luck in the forum.

[wuushew]

15. This is almost as bad as forcing medication to enable execution

stupid country/stupid court

[silvershadow]

16. i don't get it ...presumeably

his IQ was below the threshold at the time of the crime, correct?
So they are going to execute him because he used to be mentally retarded but now he isnt?

[WhiteTara]

18. yeppers, that's the rationale

It sure doesn't make sense to me either. It's like saying if you are underage when you commit a crime, but are tried some time later, you should be tried as an adult. But hey, this is the new world order and everything you knew is turned upside down.

[dhinojosa]

19. Bush is mentally retarded with a low IQ and is a murderer....

where is his lethal injection?