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Thread: Warren Lee Hill, Jr. - Georgia Execution - January 27, 2015

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Execution Date Set

    The commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections has scheduled an execution for a man convicted in the 1990 killing of a fellow inmate.

    Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens on Tuesday announced that the execution of Warren Lee Hill has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on July 18.

    Authorities say Hill attacked Joseph Handspike as he slept and beat him to death with a board. Hill was serving a life sentence at the time for the 1986 slaying of his 18-year-old girlfriend, who died after being shot 11 times.

    Authorities say Hill attacked Handspike when he was asleep and unable to defend himself and beat him badly in the upper body and face. He was convicted in July 1991 on charges of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.

    http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/07/03/execution-date-set
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  2. #12
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    More calls for death row inmate Warren Hill to be spared

    The cause of Georgia death row inmate Warren Hill, who faces execution next month, received national attention this week after a New York Times editorial called on the state to spare the mentally disabled man.

    In an editorial titled "An Urgent Plea for Mercy," the New York Times on Friday wrote the state Board of Pardons and Paroles "has the discretion and the duty to commute his sentence to life without parole. The legal and factual record strongly compels that just decision."

    Hill's death warrant was signed Monday, and a 7 p.m. execution by lethal injection is set for July 18 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, unless Pardons and Paroles grants him clemency.

    Hill, who was already serving a life sentence at the Lee Correctional Institution for killing his girlfriend, was convicted in 1990 of killing a fellow inmate with a nail-studded board.

    Although a state judge found that Hill more likely than not was mentally disabled when he killed inmate Joseph Handspike, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed that ruling because it said Hill had not proven he was mentally disabled beyond a reasonable doubt. His execution was then ordered.

    Georgia is the only state in the country that sets such a high burden of proof for capital cases involving defendants who claim mental retardation.

    Hill's death sentence was upheld on appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to review the case.

    The Times editorial called the state Supreme Court's requirement of the higher burden of proof a "stark constitutional error." In urging clemency, it also noted that jurors in the case said they would have given Hill a life sentence if they'd had the option, and some members of Handspike's family also do not want him executed.

    Brian Kammer, one of Hill's lawyers, said the Board of Pardons and Paroles will be asked for clemency before the July 18 execution date.

    http://www.ajc.com/news/more-calls-f...h-1473739.html
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  3. #13
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Clemency hearing set for Georgia death row inmate

    The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is set to hear from people seeking clemency for a death row inmate set to be executed next week.

    The board will meet Friday morning with representatives supporting Warren Lee Hill. Hill was serving a life sentence in 1990 for the 1986 slaying of his girlfriend when authorities say he killed a fellow inmate. A jury in 1991 convicted Hill of murder and sentenced him to death.

    Hill's execution is scheduled for July 18.

    Hill's lawyer argues his client is mentally disabled and shouldn't be executed. Death penalty defendants in Georgia have to prove they are mentally disabled beyond a reasonable doubt to avoid execution

    Hill's petition to have his case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court was denied last month.

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/C...te-3696770.php
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  4. #14
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    Case highlights strict Ga. execution standard

    Georgia was the first state to ban executing mentally disabled death row inmates, but the case of an inmate who is to be put to death next week has highlighted the state's strictest-in-the-nation standard for proving mental disability.

    Former President Jimmy Carter is among those who have said the state pardons board should commute Warren Lee Hill's death sentence to life in prison without parole. However, the state argues defense attorneys have failed to meet their burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Hill is mentally disabled. Hill was convicted of the 1991 murder of a fellow inmate.

    Most states that impose the death penalty have a lower threshold for defendants to prove they are mentally disabled, while some states don't set standards at all. Hill's lawyer Brian Kammer said the high standard for proving mental disability is problematic because psychiatric diagnoses are subject to a degree of certainty that is virtually impossible to overcome.

    Prosecutors have presented expert testimony and evidence that Hill is not disabled, while his attorneys have presented their own evidence to prove he is disabled. That can make it difficult to determine anything beyond a reasonable doubt, said Kay Levine, an associate professor of law at Emory University.

    "Beyond a reasonable doubt can never be met if you're simply not sure which side is unequivocally telling the truth and which side is not," said Levine, who has no connection to the Hill case. "The issue with Georgia setting its mental health standard as high as it's set is that it requires such a high level of certainty that even scientists will rarely reach."

    Nonetheless, Georgia's strict standard has repeatedly been upheld by state and federal courts.

    Last year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in an appeal of Hill's case that it couldn't strike down Georgia's law because the U.S. Supreme Court allows states to create their own definitions for mentally disabled. The decision, written by Judge Frank Hull, noted the justices were careful not to set their own rigid guidelines for such a definition.

    Even if Georgia "somehow inappropriately struck the balance" when it adopted its standard, Hull wrote, only the U.S. Supreme Court can overturn the state's law.

    The Supreme Court last month declined to hear Hill's case, but his lawyer has already submitted a new request to the high court.

    Diagnostic guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association for "mild mental retardation" _ which is what Hill's defense claims _ include an IQ of approximately 50-70 and onset before age 18. The guidelines also include simultaneous deficits or impairments in the person's effectiveness in meeting the standards expected for the person's age or cultural group in at least two of the following areas: communication, self-care, home living, social/interpersonal skills, use of community resources, self-direction, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health and safety.

    Georgia's law reflects those guidelines, defining "mentally retarded" _ which is the term used by the law _ as "having significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning resulting in or associated with impairments in adaptive behavior which manifested during the developmental period."

    "Difficulties in diagnosis arise whenever these criteria are not clearly delineated, for example an IQ score of 70," said University of Georgia psychology professor L. Stephen Miller. In such cases, he said, arguments can be made in either direction because the accuracy of the test is likely plus or minus five points. Another factor that can cause conflicting diagnoses are inconsistent reports on whether someone is having trouble functioning in the real world, Miller said.

    Most people who are "mildly mentally retarded" are able to live relatively successfully in the community, he said.

    The state has cited expert testimony and IQ tests that concluded Hill is not mentally disabled. Before trial, Hill's family members described him as "the leader of the family" and "a father figure," the state notes. He was not in special education classes and served in the Navy, where he received promotions, the state has said.

    The defense has referenced a state court judge's assessment that Hill was mentally disabled and a test that shows his IQ to be about 70. The defense has also cited expert testimony that it is not unusual for someone who is mildly mentally disabled to be able to function at a satisfactory level in an environment as structured as the military. Attorneys also presented a letter from some of Hill's teachers saying that he could never read or write at the proper grade level, and that he was promoted to the next grade only so he would continue to be with children his own age.

    The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is set to hear Hill's case Friday. His lawyer has asked the board to commute Hill's sentence to life in prison without parole or to grant him a 90-day delay to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case.

    Included with the application to the board are letters from former President Carter and his wife, disability groups and the nephew of Joseph Handspike, the inmate Hill killed.

    Richard Handspike, who says he is a representative for the family, says in the letter that they were not contacted by prosecutors but would have told authorities they did not want Hill to be executed.

    "I and my family feel strongly that persons with any kind of significant mental disabilities should not be put to death," Handspike said. "I believe that if the system had evidence of such disability in Mr. Hill, it should have taken steps to treat him accordingly and prevent his execution."

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012...death-penalty/
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  5. #15
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    Georgia death row inmate seeks reprieve due to mental disability

    Attorneys for a Georgia man facing execution next week argued to the state's pardons board on Friday that executing the two-time murderer would be unjust because of his limited mental capacity.

    The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles held a closed hearing in the case on Friday but did not issue a ruling.

    The board has more leeway than the courts in deciding whether to commute Hill's death sentence to life in prison, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.

    In petitioning the board for clemency, Hill's attorneys raised questions about Georgia's strict standard for defining mental retardation.

    In 1988, Georgia became the first U.S. state to enact a law banning the execution of mentally retarded defendants. But Georgia has perhaps the toughest standard in the nation for defining mental retardation, requiring proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," Dieter said.

    "I don't know of any other state that puts the burden on the defendant to show (retardation) beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard that there is in the judicial system," he said.

    Mental retardation is generally defined as having a score of 70 or below on intelligence tests, Dieter said. Hill scored 69 on one intelligence test and in the 70s on others, according to court records.

    States also take additional factors into account, including a defendant's ability to perform routine tasks. Georgia's attorney general and a federal appellate court have noted that Hill served in the U.S. Navy and saved money to purchase cars and motorcycles before his incarceration.

    Hill's attorney, Brian Kammer, told Reuters that people who are mildly mentally retarded "can seem to function 'normally' in many areas of life," including military service.

    Hill was serving a life sentence for the 1986 shooting death of his girlfriend when he killed a fellow prisoner in August 1990 by beating the man to death while he slept.

    At his trial, a clinical psychologist testified that Hill had below-normal intelligence but knew the difference between right and wrong, according to the attorney general's office.

    Kammer said the issue of mental retardation was not brought up at trial because Hill's original lawyers did not conduct a thorough investigation into his background.

    Hill's attorneys have challenged Georgia's law in the federal courts, saying the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard is overly strict and conflicts with a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bans executing mentally retarded defendants.

    A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Atlanta agreed with the defense in 2010. But the full court reversed that decision last year, and the U.S. Supreme Court last month declined to review the case.

    If the parole board grants Hill clemency, his sentence would be converted to life in prison either with or without the possibility of parole.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...86C19520120713
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  6. #16
    Senior Member Member Slayer's Avatar
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    Do you think this one will go ahead Heidi?

  7. #17
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    I don't see any reason why the execution shouldn't proceed. The state's case against Hill has been upheld by all courts. Hill obviously has anger management issues, but by Georgia law he isn't retarded!
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  8. #18
    Senior Member Member Slayer's Avatar
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    Thanks for that Heidi I was just checking!

  9. #19
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    Clemency denied for Georgia death row inmate Hill

    The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has voted to deny clemency to death row inmate Warren Lee Hill, who is facing execution Wednesday.

    The board announced its decision Monday after hearing arguments in the case Friday. Hill was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to death for killing a fellow inmate while serving a life sentence for the slaying of his girlfriend.

    His lawyer Brian Kammer has argued that Hill is mentally disabled and therefore shouldn't be executed. Kammer said he's "horrified and outraged" by the board's decision.

    "This shameful decision violates Georgia's and our nation's moral values and renders meaningless state and federal constitutional protections against wrongful execution of persons with mental retardation," he said.

    Kammer had asked the board to commute Hill's sentence to life in prison without parole or to grant him a 90-day stay of execution to give the U.S. Supreme Court time to consider the case. A petition to have Hill's case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court was denied last month, but Kammer has filed a new request with the high court.

    Hill and Joseph Handspike were both serving sentences for murder at the Lee Correctional Institution in 1990 when Hill beat Handspike to death. Hill was serving a life sentence at the time for the 1986 slaying of his 18-year-old girlfriend, who was shot 11 times.

    Hill's defense says he is mentally disabled and therefore shouldn't be executed because state and federal law prohibit states from executing people who are mentally disabled. The state has said the defense has failed to meet its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Hill is mentally disabled.

    Georgia's standard of requiring death row inmates to prove mental disability beyond a reasonable doubt is the toughest in the country. Most states that impose the death penalty have a lower threshold for defendants to prove they are mentally disabled, while some states don't set standards at all.

    Kammer has said the high standard for proving mental disability is problematic because psychiatric diagnoses are subject to a degree of uncertainty that is virtually impossible to overcome. But Georgia's strict standard has repeatedly been upheld by state and federal courts.

    http://www.calhountimes.com/view/ful...ome_local_news
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  10. #20
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    Execution for Ga. death row inmate delayed

    The Georgia Department of Corrections has announced that an execution scheduled for this week has been delayed.

    Warren Lee Hill was set to be executed Wednesday evening. Corrections officials say the execution has been rescheduled for Monday.

    Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens also announced Tuesday that the state will use a single drug for court-ordered executions instead of the three-drug combination it has been using. Effective immediately, the state will use only the sedative pentobarbital.

    Hill was charged in the 1990 beating death of fellow inmate Joseph Handspike. Hill was serving a life sentence at the time for the 1986 slaying of his 18-year-old girlfriend, who was shot 11 times.

    http://www.independentmail.com/news/...nmate-delayed/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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