What happened in Hall v Florida?

Florida, 572 U.S. 701 (2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a bright-line IQ threshold requirement for determining whether someone has an intellectual disability (formerly mental retardation) is unconstitutional in deciding whether they are eligible for the death penalty.

What did freddie Lee Hall do?

The Florida Supreme Court vacated Hall’s death sentence for killing and raping a pregnant 21-year-old Leesburg woman, Karol Hurst, and slammed the state’s process for determining whether convicted murderers were too intellectually disabled for execution.

What was the unacceptable risk that Florida’s law caused?

Holding: Florida’s threshold requirement, as interpreted by the Florida Supreme Court, that defendants show an IQ test score of 70 or below before being permitted to submit additional intellectual disability evidence is unconstitutional because it creates an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disabilities …

Who joined the opinion in Hall v Florida?

However, the opinion described the experience of states across the country, and concluded that it was rare to make anyone eligible for the death penalty based simply on an IQ score above 70. Kennedy was joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor.

What was the Supreme Court decision in Hall v Florida?

Hall v. Florida, 572 U.S. 701 (2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a bright-line IQ threshold requirement for determining whether someone has an intellectual disability (formerly mental retardation) is unconstitutional in deciding whether they are eligible for the death penalty.

What did the Atkins court say in Hall v Florida?

The Atkins court stated I.Q. scores under “approximately 70” typically indicate disability, but the court let the states determine who is mentally disabled and thus cannot be executed. In Hall the Court narrowed the discretion under which U.S. states can designate an individual convicted of murder as too intellectually incapacitated to be executed.

What was the case of Freddie Lee Hall?

Freddie Lee Hall, Petitioner v. Florida Hall v. State, 109 So. 3d 704 ( Fla. 2012); cert. granted, 571 U.S. 973 (2013). A Florida law allowing the execution of borderline mentally handicapped individuals violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments.