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The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights (ratified December 15, 1791) prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment.
Although Atkins's case and ruling may have saved other mentally handicapped inmates from the death penalty, a jury in Virginia decided in July 2005 that Atkins was intelligent enough to be executed on the basis that the constant contact he had with his lawyers provided intellectual stimulation and raised his IQ above 70, making him competent to be put to death under Virginia law. The prosecution had argued that his poor school performance was caused by his use of alcohol and drugs, and that his lower scores in earlier IQ tests were tainted. His execution date was set for December 2, 2005, but was later stayed.
In conclusion , atkins did not
deserve the capital punishment because he was not mentally stable so he wouldn't have known what he was doing at the time. It was cruel and unusual, which is clearly violating or 8th amendment right.
Atkins should have
never been sentence to death
because he was
mentally retarded
and it goes against
our 8th amendment.
Atikins v Virginia held
the execution of the mentally retarded to be a violation of the 8th amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
This is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3 that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, but states can define who has intellectual disability.
-https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/00-8452
-http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/536/304.html
On August 16 1996 , 18-year-old Daryl Atkins and his accomplice, William Jones walked to a nearby convenience store where they abducted Eric Nesbitt, an airman from nearby Langley Air Force Base. Unsatisfied with the $60 they found in his wallet, Atkins drove Nesbitt in his own vehicle to a nearby ATM and forced him to withdraw a further $200. In spite of Nesbitt's pleas, the two abductors then drove him to an isolated location, where he was shot eight times, killing him.
Atkins's school records and the results of an IQ test carried out by clinical psychologist Dr. Evan Nelson confirmed that he had an IQ of 59. Which means he's mildly retarted.
Atkins was sentence to death under the Virginia court system.