The Georgia Senate approved H.B. 123 on Monday by a 53-1 vote. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The Supreme Court allowed states to determine the threshold for a person to be considered intellectually disabled. Georgia requires proof of intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt, making it the only state with such a high burden of proof.
H.B. 123 would lower the standard to a preponderance of evidence and amend trial procedures to ensure people facing a death sentence receive a fair chance at convincing judges and jurors of their disability.
The bill would allow defendants to present evidence of intellectual disability at a pretrial hearing that would be mandatory if prosecutors agree. There would also be a separate process before the same jury for determining whether someone is guilty and has an intellectual disability.
Defendants who are found to have an intellectual disability would be exempt from the death penalty and receive alternative sentences.
In multiple cases in Georgia, lawyers have unsuccessfully argued that their clients had intellectual disabilities. Judges in some of these cases said they might have succeeded if the state's rules were less strict.
GEORGIA MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH SEEKS CLEMENCY ON GROUNDS OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
When the Georgia Supreme Court in 2021 upheld the death penalty for Rodney Young in a 2008 killing, the justices found he had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was intellectually disabled, but then-Presiding Justice David Nahmias wrote that he would "embrace" legislative efforts to lower the threshold.
In another case, Warren Lee Hill was executed in Georgia in 2015 for killing a fellow detainee despite his lawyers arguing that he had an intellectual disability. In 2002, a judge said that if the state used a lower standard than reasonable doubt, Hill would likely have been found intellectually disabled.
Willie James Pye, whose IQ was allegedly low enough to show he was intellectually disabled, was executed in 2024 after his conviction in the 1993 rape and shooting death of his former girlfriend, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. Pye's lawyers argued he was intellectually disabled and brain-damaged.
The measure, sponsored by GOP state Rep. Bill Werkheiser, now heads to the governor's desk. (AP)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Separate processes would allow jurors to evaluate whether someone is intellectually disabled without being influenced by the evidence of the crime the person committed, the lawyers argue.
Some prosecutors allege that the bill would make it too difficult to pursue the death penalty and would prevent the practice from being carried out at all. They say that lawmakers should just ban the death penalty if that is their desire, but lawmakers have said that is not their intention.
People would also have the option to receive sentences of life without parole if they are exempt from the death penalty, instead of just a life sentence.
A Senate committee has also tweaked the bill so it would go into effect immediately and apply to all pending cases.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/georgia-bill-lowering-threshold-proving-intellectual-disability-death-penalty-cases-heads-gov-kemp