Stand With AADD Against Warren Hill's Upcoming Execution

Georgians have much to take pride in, including the fact the State was the first in the nation to prohibit the execution of people with intellectual disability. Sadly, Georgia may be on the verge of tarnishing this proud reputation by executing Warren Hill.

Barring court intervention, Mr. Hill will be executed on Monday, July 15, despite findings from every single doctor who has examined him that he has ‘mental retardation’ (the legal term still used). Earlier this year, three doctors who previously testified for the state that Mr. Hill does not have ‘mental retardation’ revised their diagnoses. After additional review of the case, and given both the advancements in understanding of intellectual disability in the last decade and their own expanded experience working with people with intellectual disability, the doctors now agree: Mr. Hill meets the criteria for intellectual disability.

In 1988, Georgia was the vanguard in rightly recognizing that people with intellectual disability require protection from the most extreme punishment. Nearly fifteen years later, in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court followed suit in Atkins v. Virginia. Mr. Hill has an undisputed I.Q of 70, and according to every expert who has examined him, unquestionably fits into the category of people protected from capital punishment by Atkins. Yet stunningly, a person who is ineligible for the death penalty is now days away from being executed in Georgia.

In April, a Georgia court ruled that it could not consider the new doctor findings because of procedural barriers. In fact, no court has ever considered this critical new information on its merits. With Mr. Hill days away from execution, it is unconscionable that technicalities are standing in the way of fair review of the evidence.

In addition to the unanimous doctor diagnoses, Georgia courts have also repeatedly found that Mr. Hill is intellectually disabled. In 2002, and again in 2012, a Georgia state court judge affirmed that Mr. Hill is a person with ‘mental retardation’ – but said that Mr. Hill did not meet Georgia’s uniquely strict legal standard of proof. Indeed, Georgia is the only state that requires a defendant to prove mental retardation “beyond a reasonable doubt” – the strictest standard in the nation.

Mr. Hill’s case has received an extensive and diverse outpouring of support from mental health experts, intellectual disability organizations, legal experts, several of the jurors from trial, and even President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter. Notably, the family of the victim also does not wish to see Mr. Hill executed, specifically citing his intellectual disability.

The U.S. Supreme Court now has an opportunity to ensure that the Atkins ruling is upheld and the constitutional rights of persons with intellectual disability are respected by granting a stay of execution to Mr. Hill. It is an opportunity they should take.