Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 10, 2006 2:47:34 GMT -5
Killer’s mental capacity at issue
Inmate’s death sentence would be reduced to life in prison if he is found to
be retarded
Thursday, June 08, 2006 - Kevin Mayhood
Nineteen years after he was sentenced to Death Row, an East Side man is entitled to a hearing to determine whether he is mentally retarded and therefore not subject to execution.
The Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that an expert be appointed to evaluate Warren Waddy, 52.
A jury found Waddy guilty of aggravated murder for strangling Paula Mason, 22, on July 18, 1986. Waddy burglarized Mason’s East Side apartment, where he bound her hands and feet and killed her. He also was convicted of breaking into two other homes and stabbing a woman and ramming her head into a wall.
The appeals court ruling does not affect Waddy’s conviction.
If he is found to be mentally retarded, his death sentence would be reduced to a life sentence, under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Waddy is one of 26 Death Row inmates to file for hearings since the high court banned execution of the mentally retarded.
The Ohio attorney general’s office said that 22 of the cases are pending and that four of the claims have been denied.
Waddy’s attorney, Carol A. Wright, submitted a 1969 report that indicated that, when Waddy was 15, psychological testing showed he was borderline retarded with an IQ of 72. Generally, an IQ of 70 or lower is considered retarded. A 1995 evaluation by Columbus psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon concluded Waddy’s IQ was 83 and that he had "at least mild brain impairment," and longstanding emotional and behavioral problems.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Steven L. Taylor argued that the Smalldon evaluation concludes Waddy is not retarded and no hearing was necessary.
Appeals Court Justices Peggy J. Bryant, Lisa L. Sadler and William A. Klatt said that Smalldon’s evaluation was done for different purposes and it was unclear what standards he used. They said the documents demonstrate that Waddy might be entitled to relief.
Waddy is the second Death Row inmate from Franklin County to seek a hearing. Mark E. Burke, 45, was denied by former Common Pleas Judge Dale A. Crawford, who, however, ordered a new trial on different grounds.
Taylor said the prosecutor’s office is reviewing the Waddy decision. He has 45 days to file an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court; otherwise, the hearing will go forward.
No other convicts from Franklin County have appealed for relief, Taylor said. From now on, in each death-penalty case in which a defendant claims to be retarded, a hearing on his or her mental capabilities will be held before trial.
A Kentucky man convicted of fatally beating a 10-year-old boy in Cincinnati was the first in Ohio to be saved by the ruling. Darryl Gumm won’t be executed because he is mentally retarded, a Hamilton County judge ruled in August.
Source: THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Inmate’s death sentence would be reduced to life in prison if he is found to
be retarded
Thursday, June 08, 2006 - Kevin Mayhood
Nineteen years after he was sentenced to Death Row, an East Side man is entitled to a hearing to determine whether he is mentally retarded and therefore not subject to execution.
The Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that an expert be appointed to evaluate Warren Waddy, 52.
A jury found Waddy guilty of aggravated murder for strangling Paula Mason, 22, on July 18, 1986. Waddy burglarized Mason’s East Side apartment, where he bound her hands and feet and killed her. He also was convicted of breaking into two other homes and stabbing a woman and ramming her head into a wall.
The appeals court ruling does not affect Waddy’s conviction.
If he is found to be mentally retarded, his death sentence would be reduced to a life sentence, under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Waddy is one of 26 Death Row inmates to file for hearings since the high court banned execution of the mentally retarded.
The Ohio attorney general’s office said that 22 of the cases are pending and that four of the claims have been denied.
Waddy’s attorney, Carol A. Wright, submitted a 1969 report that indicated that, when Waddy was 15, psychological testing showed he was borderline retarded with an IQ of 72. Generally, an IQ of 70 or lower is considered retarded. A 1995 evaluation by Columbus psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon concluded Waddy’s IQ was 83 and that he had "at least mild brain impairment," and longstanding emotional and behavioral problems.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Steven L. Taylor argued that the Smalldon evaluation concludes Waddy is not retarded and no hearing was necessary.
Appeals Court Justices Peggy J. Bryant, Lisa L. Sadler and William A. Klatt said that Smalldon’s evaluation was done for different purposes and it was unclear what standards he used. They said the documents demonstrate that Waddy might be entitled to relief.
Waddy is the second Death Row inmate from Franklin County to seek a hearing. Mark E. Burke, 45, was denied by former Common Pleas Judge Dale A. Crawford, who, however, ordered a new trial on different grounds.
Taylor said the prosecutor’s office is reviewing the Waddy decision. He has 45 days to file an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court; otherwise, the hearing will go forward.
No other convicts from Franklin County have appealed for relief, Taylor said. From now on, in each death-penalty case in which a defendant claims to be retarded, a hearing on his or her mental capabilities will be held before trial.
A Kentucky man convicted of fatally beating a 10-year-old boy in Cincinnati was the first in Ohio to be saved by the ruling. Darryl Gumm won’t be executed because he is mentally retarded, a Hamilton County judge ruled in August.
Source: THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH