Case Of Atkins V. Virginia (2002) Daryl Renard Atkins

Manderscheid et al. (2010) states that “Mental illness refers to conditions that affect cognition, emotion and behavior, some examples include (schizophrenia, depression and autism)” (p. 2). Patients suffering from mental illness usually have normal I.Q and can be experienced by individuals of all levels of intellectual ability. A mental health condition disrupts the thoughts, behavior and emotions of an individual and may be temporary or experienced in recurring cycles or episodes. Mental illness is most likely to be diagnosed later in life, as onset normally occurs after puberty. It is a condition that can be treated or controlled with medication and psychiatric therapy, whereas a person with intellectual disability cannot be treated with

Virginia (2002) Daryl Renard Atkins was accused and convicted of capital murder along with armed robbery and abduction, for a crime he committed with William Jones. “The prosecution permitted Jones to plead guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against Atkins, as a result of the plea, Jones became ineligible for the death penalty” (Atkins v. Virginia, 1989). Atkins was sentenced to death, twice, because during the first case the court used a misleading verdict form. At the defense of Atkins a doctor by the name of Evan Nelson was relied upon because he concluded that Atkins was mildly mentally retarded after reviewing school records, interviewing deputies at jails Atkins was in, interviewing people who knew him and also by examining him, which resulted with Atkins having a low IQ of 59. Certiorari was granted in Atkins case, in order to revisit Penry and how that case was specifically handled. Atkins capital punishment was changed and he was not sentenced to death because it was found that the United States Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment, as it was the case with offenders having mental

“His age was used as a mitigating factor, but it did not matter because the jury favored the death penalty and the trial judge imposed capital punishment” (Roper v. Simmons, 2005). Simmons was able to access new counsel, who argued that Simmons had poor help and assistance during his trial. They used his background of a not so good home life and how he made the wrong choices of hanging out with the teenagers that were into drugs and alcohol as a reason to reverse his death penalty punishment. In this case it was said, “The contention by Simmons’ post conviction counsel was that these matters should have been established in the sentencing proceeding” (Roper v. Simmons, 2005). Simmons’ petition was denied and the death penalty was still in play. According to Roper v. Simmons