Should the mentally deficient like Lewis and Wilson be executed?

GHN News Staff -  Gregory Wilson's scheduled execution  for September 16 was given a stay by Judge Philip Shepherd of Kentucky in response to questions about Wilson's intellect, a concern expressed by John Grisham, author, about Teresa Lewis scheduled to be executed  in Virginia..

 Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that Kentucky’s new execution protocol is inconsistent with state law in that it does not provide safeguardd for executing an individual who is mentally deficient.  Gregory Wilson has tested with an IQ of 62.

 “Because the state's protocol doesn't include a mechanism to determine if someone is mentally retarded and there are serious questions about Wilson's mental state, the execution cannot go forward.” Wilson’s attorney has stated that the only mental test given to him showed an IQ of 62, well below the limit of 70 usually used as an indication of intellectual disability.

Judge Shepherd wrote, “The Court finds there is a good faith basis to believe that Wilson may be ineligible for the death penalty,” and noted that "Mr. Wilson appears to be the only inmate on death row in Kentucky who had no lawyer at trial."  The judge also questioned why Kentucky's new protocol did not allow for a 1-drug lethal injection process since that is permitted under the state law. 

The state is appealing the ruling.

In the meantime Virginia Lewis, is scheduled to die with lethal injection in the State of Virginia,  Author John Grisham recently published an opinion piece in the Washington Post questioning why Teresa Lewis is being scheduled for execution when the two men who committed killings with her were given life without parole.  He also ponders the fairness of executing an individual with deficient intellect.    She has an IQ of 72 which makes her borderline intellectually.  Grisham wrote, “In this case, as in so many capital cases, the imposition of a death sentence had little do with fairness. Like other death sentences, it depended more upon the assignment of judge and prosecutor, the location of the crime, the quality of the defense counsel, the speed with which a co-defendant struck a deal, the quality of each side's experts and other such factors. In Virginia, the law is hardly consistent."