One 70-Plus IQ Score Helps Tip Death-Penalty Scale

The Ohio Supreme Court did not act contrary to Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 71 CrL 374 (2002), by upholding a death sentence even though three of the prisoner’s four IQ test scores fell below the 70-point threshold associated with mental retardation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Dec. 23. (O’Neal v. Bagley, 2013 BL 353744, 6th Cir., No. 11-3449)

In an opinion by Judge R. Guy Cole Jr., the court deferred to the state court’s finding that the prisoner was not mentally retarded, which was based on a single above-70 ...