Death penalty ban for mentally disabled gaining more support

`We're greatly encouraged. The House is now showing some interest

.'FRANK MANN - Association for Retarded Citizens of Florida lobbyist BY LESLEY CLARK TALLAHASSEE -- When advocates came to the Capitol last year to push for legislation that would prohibit the execution of mentally disabled criminals, they were spurned by a state House of Representatives that prides itself on being tough on crime.Now with some fine tuning of the bill and with the U.S. Supreme Court signaling its intent to revisit the constitutionality of executing the mentally retarded, advocates cheered Tuesday as a bill banning such death sentences was readied for final passage in the Senate and heard for the first time in a House committee.And on Tuesday, Gov. Jeb Bush said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.``We're greatly encouraged,'' said Frank Mann, a former state senator and now a lobbyist for the Association for Retarded Citizens of Florida. ``The House is now showing some interest.''The House State Administration Committee unanimously approved the bill, H 1095, which would prohibit a death sentence if the convicted defendant is found by two court-appointed experts to be mentally disabled.Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, questioned whether the bill would make it easier for ``anti-death-penalty judges'' to avoid imposing a death sentence, but a lobbyist for the state prosecutors, who are supporting the bill, said judges can already avoid sentencing defendants to death.Florida law does not ban imposing a death sentence on the mentally disabled, though judges may consider evidence of mental retardation as a mitigating factor. Florida law does prohibit the insane from being executed.A similar bill passed the Senate last year, but died in the House, where Rep. Randy Ball, R-Mims, refused to hear the bill, saying he feared it might give some killers an easy out.``I was not going to make it easy for an accused killer to avoid the death penalty because of some feeble and superficial claim of mental retardation,'' Ball said, noting that he withstood a firestorm of criticism from newspaper editorial boards for his stance.The bill must still clear three House committees, and a spokeswoman for House Speaker Tom Feeney said he has some reservations about second-guessing juries. But the bill now has the support of state prosecutors, who have initiated changes to the proposal, and Ball said he's not going to oppose it.Though the bill is ready for a final vote in the Senate, House members are still wary of appearing to be soft on crime: House sponsor Rep. Carole Green, R-Fort Myers, prefaced her introduction to the bill with the proclamation that she is ``pro-death penalty.''Bush, who has said he would never sign a death warrant for a mentally retarded inmate, said he supports the revised proposal.The governor believes the bill ``provides adequate protection for those who are mentally retarded while at the same time not generating unjustified delays,'' spokeswoman Liz Hirst said.Advocates estimate 10 percent to 15 percent of the 373 people on Florida's Death Row are mentally retarded. Under the bill, inmates would have to show a history of mental retardation and an intelligence quotient, or IQ, that is well below average, 70 or lower.The Department of Corrections has IQ data available for only 157 of the inmates.