Advocates push for changes in Ga. death penalty structure
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A new bill introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives would make it easier for attorneys to prove their client has an intellectual disability, possibly keeping people with mental impairments off death row.
Georgia first outlawed capital punishment for people with proven intellectual disabilities in 1988. A 2002 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment for people with proven intellectual disabilities nationwide, but left it up to individual states to determine the threshold for proving a disability in court. Georgia remains the only state where it must be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the highest standard of proof in law.
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House Bill 123 would lower that threshold to proving intellectual disability “by preponderance of evidence,” a slightly lower standard.
Advocates for age of the bill say people in that community face disparities in life, but shouldn’t have to in the courtroom.
“Because of who they are they can give false confessions, they may not have any idea how to advocate for themselves,” said Dr. Cathy Harmon-Christian, the executive director of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
“It’s very hard to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in front of a jury who is filled with the information of a horrible crime,” she continued. “No other state has that burden of proof.”
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Harmon-Christian says people undoubtedly slip through the cracks onto death row even if they aren’t ruled to have an intellectual disability in court. For instance, Willie Pye, a Georgia man who was executed in March 2024, had an IQ of 68 but was found to be competent to stand trial with a capital punishment on the line.
“We have executed and death sentenced people with intellectual disabilities,” said Harmon-Christian. “So I think it’s incumbent upon us to be able to do what we can to make sure that people who are intellectually disabled don’t have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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The bill would also require determinations on mental standing to be made pretrial, before a jury is sat. The bill isn’t arguing for the abolition of the death penalty in Georgia, only that it become easier to prove a defendant’s status as someone with an intellectual disability.
But it doesn’t mean people convicted of a crime wouldn’t still face punishment, even if they are determined to have an intellectual disability.
“We need to understand that not everybody who makes decisions has the full understanding of the consequences of those decisions,” said Dom Kelly, CEO of the group New Disabled South. “What this bill will do is ensure that they have a right to a fair process in the legal system and that is all we’re asking for.”
The bill wouldn’t be retroactive. Georgia currently has 34 inmates remaining on death row, and none of them would be eligible for appeal if the law es – it would only apply going forward.
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