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Pennsylvania Legislation Calls for Pre-Trial Mental Retardation Determination

By standdown

The AP report, "News from the Pennsylvania General Assembly," via Philly.com, contains:The Senate voted 45-2 to approve a bill that would establish a pretrial process to determine whether a defendant potentially facing the death penalty is mentally retarded. The bill follows a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said it is unconstitutionally cruel to execute a person who is mentally retarded. The state Legislature has since been unable to decide when the state's courts should make that determination of a defendant , either before or after the trial. The bill goes to the House. (Senate Bill 628)The Supreme Court ruling came in Atkins v. Virginia. "Don't use the 'R' word," is Jessica Brown's Cincinnati Enquirer report...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).