On February 20, 2002, a case was argued pertaining to capital punishment known as Atkins versus the State of Virginia. The jury convicted Daryl Atkins for the murder of a Virginia man, as well as the abduction and armed robbery of said victim. Allegedly, on the 16th of August 1996, Atkins, partnered with William Jones, abducted Eric Nesbitt from his place of residence, armed with a semiautomatic handgun. The two suspects proceeded to rob him of all of the cash he had on him at the time and withdrew additional cash from a nearby ATM with Nesbitt's card. From there, Atkins and Jones brought the victim to a nearby location and shot him eight times, killing him. Both Atkins' and Jones' testimony were similar, except for the fact that they both accused each other for the actual shooting and killing of Eric Nesbitt. Both parties of the murder plead guilty and were indicted for the death penalty, however Jones' death penalty was waived in exchange for his testimony against his partner in crime, Atkins. These two men were proved guilty of the murder of Eric Nesbitt due to two main factors; the danger of future acts of violence, and the brutality of the events that had unfolded that night. .
A forensic psychologist by the name of Dr. Evan Nelson examined Atkins due to the fact that the Supreme Court of Virginia needed to prove one of the factors of his patient's conviction, the gravity and brutality of the offense. Dr. Nelson came to the conclusion before Atkins' trial that he was "mildly mentally retarded". This tedious decision was based on many interviews with acquaintances of the perpetrator and school and court records. Another factor in Dr. Nelson's decision was due to the fact that Daryl Atkins has taken a standard intelligence test and had scored a 59. According to Dr. Nelson, this is in the less than one percentile of the United States population. This specific test that the doctor had giving Atkins was the typical test used by the United States Government for "assessing intellectual functioning" and has a point scale form 45-155.
Is executing the mentally retarded Unconstitutional? Is sentencing execution upon a mentally retarded individual unconstitutional? This is a question that has recently been answered by the United States Supreme Court. According to Justice John Paul Stevens executing the mentally retarded is unc...
Is executing the mentally retarded Unconstitutional? Is sentencing execution upon a mentally retarded individual unconstitutional? This is a question that has recently been answered by the United States Supreme Court. According to Justice John Paul Stevens executing the mentally retarded is unc...
Wright 10-14-1998 Virginia 17 Sean R. Sellers 2-4-1999 Oklahoma 16 Christopher Thomas 1-10-2000 Virginia 17 Steve E. Roach 1-19-2000 Virginia 17 Glen C. ... Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361 (1989), the United States Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at ages 16 or 17 regardless of state statutory provisions. ∙ In Atkins v. Virginia, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (June 20, 2002), the United States Supreme Court held that the United States Constitution prohibits the death penalty for mentally retarded ...
In 1612 Divine, Moral, and Martial law was established by Virginia's Governor. ... These laws were later reconsidered due to the lack of inhabitants in the Virginia Colony. In 1622, Daniel Frank was executed in the state of Virginia. ... The first reforms came in 1776 when Thomas Jefferson and some fellow colleagues, with authority from the Government, proposed a revision of current Virginia law. ...
Capital punishment has been a controversial topic since its existence. Issues on the execution methods such as if its reasonable punishment to the crime, or who receives the death penalty, and innocence have been researched for years. Capital punishment is still a form of "deterrence" in the United ...
Juvenile Punishment Nathaniel Abraham, at age thirteen, is on of the nations youngest first-degree murder defendants. When he committed his crime, at age eleven, he was to young to see rated R films but, was old enough to be tried in an ,adult court, as someone who could (Mark P. 1). Juvenile of...
(Robert V. ... These states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. ... In 2005, the Supreme Court in Roper v. ... In 2002, the Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia that it is unconstitutional to execute defendants with mental retardation. ...
The first recorded execution in the new colonies was Captain George Kendall in Virginia in 1608 for the crime of stealing (http://teacher.deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/). ... (Furman v. ... So all states had to do was rewrite their death penalty laws to eliminate the problems that were pointed out in Furman v. ... Constitution prohibits execution for crimes committed at age 15 and younger (Thompson v. Oklahoma, 1988) but permits execution for crimes at ages 16 or older (Stanford v. ...
