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Article: EXECUTION OF RETARDED BANNED SUPREME COURT: IT'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL.(FRONT)
- Article from:
- The Capital Times
- Article date:
- June 20, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Capital Newspapers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A divided Supreme Court reversed course today and ruled that executing mentally retarded people is unconstitutionally cruel.
The decision gives scores of inmates on death row the possibility of a reprieve.
The most immediate effect of the ruling will be in the 20 states that allow execution of retarded people. Dozens or perhaps hundreds of inmates in those states will likely now argue that they are retarded and that their sentences should be converted to life in prison.
The 6-3 ruling is confined to mentally retarded defendants convicted of murder and does not address the constitutionality of capital punishment in general.
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