The Oklahoman  -

OKLAHOMA - Senate passes ban on executing the mentally retarded

The Oklahoma Senate passed legislation Monday to bar the state from executing mentally retarded death row inmates.

Senators voted 32-15 for the measure although opponents questioned whether it will accomplish the goal of stopping the execution of defendants who cannot understand the consequences of their actions.

 "This bill doesn't get us there," said Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward.

 The measure, previously passed in the state House, is based on laws in 18 other states that prohibit the execution of defendants classified as developmentally disabled.

 It would effect inmates convicted of 1st-degree murder, the only crime punishable by death in Oklahoma.

 The legislation would require courts to conduct pretrial hearings to determine whether a defendant was developmentally disabled. Defendants must show that they have an IQ of 70 or below and that the disability occurred before age 18.

 Mentally retarded defendants may still be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, said the bill's Senate author, Sen. Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City.

 "Life in prison is a hard-core life, serious punishment," Monson said.

 Monson said developmentally disabled defendants do not share the same legal issues with defendants who are declared insane.

 "They may know the difference between right from wrong but be unable to realize the severe consequences of their actions," she said.

 Supporters have said that people with IQs of 70 or below function on the level of someone who is 9-to-12 years old.

 Attorney General Drew Edmondson, a death penalty advocate, has thrown his support behind the measure as long as it does not affect inmates already sentenced to death.

 Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow, said state law already provides safeguards to prevent a developmentally disabled person from being sentenced to death.

 Sen. Jonathan Nichols, R-Norman, said the IQ test is not foolproof and that he disagrees with exempting the unintelligent from the death penalty.

 "It allows them to escape the death penalty," Nichols said. "You're either for the death penalty or you're against it."

 Sen. Brooks Douglass, R-Oklahoma City, voted for the measure but vowed to help kill it unless additional safeguards are added.

 Douglass' parents were murdered in 1979 in a robbery in which Douglass and his sister were wounded. Douglass wrote the law that made it possible for victims' relatives to watch executions and later witnessed the execution of one of two men convicted in his parents' deaths.

 Monson said officials are still assessing the bill's fiscal impact. She said 3 or 4 inmates could use the defense each year and possibly receive life sentences instead of death.

 Sen. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta, tacked added an amendment to prevent the execution of any inmate unless DNA evidence used at trial is positively matched to the defendant.

 "There's no telling how many people have been put to death who are really innocent," Shurden said.

 The measure, House Bill 2635, now goes to a joint House-Senate conference committee for more work.