State Of Georgia Scheduled To Execute Man With Intellectual Disability

Warren Hill has been examined by doctors who say he is intellectually disabled, but he is scheduled to be executed.

According to Warren Hill’s lawyer, Brian Kammer:

“Mr. Hill has mild mental retardation, placing Mr. Hill in the category of citizens protected from capital punishment by the 2002 United States Supreme Court decision Atkins v. Virginia.”

While initially having received a different diagnoses, Hill’s doctors say they now have a more precise one. One  of his doctors, Donald Harris, states:

“We in the clinical community now better understand that persons with mild mental retardation are capable of such things as holding a job, working under close supervision, buying and driving a car, and so forth. It is precisely because significant deficits in cognition, judgment and impulse control can be masked by superficial functionality in cases of mild mental retardation that such persons may sometimes not be identified in court proceedings as being intellectually disabled. I believe this has happened in Mr. Hill’s case.”

But Hill’s execution is still scheduled.

Warren Hill is scheduled to be executed on February 19, 2013. Hill’s only chance at survival will now come down to the US Supreme Court or the intervention of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.