Stay In Hill Execution

Yesterday, I wrote about the pending execution of Warren Hill, who Georgia was on the verge of executing despite the fact that he had an IQ of 70. In another example of the glories of federalism, the Court’s 2002 Atkins precedent has been rendered virtually meaningless because it has permitted states to set standards for proving mental impairment that are essentially impossible to meet.

30 minutes before he was to be executed, however, the 11th Circuit issued a stay to consider the issue further. I doubt that Hill has a good chance of winning despite the particularly egregious facts of the case (the experts Georgia used have recanted their earlier assertions that Hill was mentally competent), but we’ll see. The Georgia appeals court has also issued a stay to consider the new lethal injection protocol Georgia is using.