Georgia Prepares for ‘Another Grotesque and Unjust Execution’ | Common Dreams

The state of Georgia is set to execute Warren Hill, a mentally disabled, African-American man, on Tuesday.

The state’s last execution was that of Troy Davis, prompting Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, to write that “the world community is again watching Georgia with great concern as it prepares to carry out another grotesque and unjust execution.”

 

Hill was given a death sentence after killing a fellow inmate while already serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend.

 

Hill is reported to have an IQ of 70, and The Guardian reports that

All medical specialists who have examined Hill now agree that he is “mentally retarded” – the designation of intellectual disability still widely used in the US – and should be protected under the supreme court ban. In an important break in the case, three forensic psychiatrists who had previously testified that Hill did not meet the legal criteria for “mental retardation”, and was thus eligible for execution, have in recent days announced that they now believe their opinion was wrong.

For more on this story, visit: Georgia Prepares for ‘Another Grotesque and Unjust Execution’ | Common Dreams.

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