To: Terry Barnard, Chair, Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles
Please Support Clemency for Warren Hill, An Intellectually Impaired Man on Georgia's Death Row
Dear Chairman Barnard and members of the board,
I am writing to urge you to grant clemency to a man deserving of mercy, Warren Hill. The Board of Pardons and Paroles is an essential component of the justice system, and as members of the Board, you contributemercy and grace to a system that is often unable to consider either. This Board has the tremendous responsibility of evaluating the decisions of the Courts and occasionally modifying sentences when they do not serve the public interest or meet evolving standards of decency. I come to you now pleading for the life of Warren Hill, a 55 year old man with intellectual disability (formerly known as “mental retardation”).
Warren grew up in poverty in Elberton, Georgia with his brothers and sisters in a household where they were exposed to chronic domestic violence in which Warren’s alcoholic-dependent father would viciously assault his mother. In turn, Warren’s mother took her anger and despair out on Warren, beating him regularly. Warren suffered from debilitating seizures throughout his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Warren has a family history of “mental retardation” and borderline intellectual functioning. His jury heard almost nothing about these topics at his 1991 capital trial in rural Leesburg, Georgia. With only the choices of a life sentence with the chance of parole or the death penalty before them, jurors sentenced Warren to death.
Several jurors who sat on Warren’s original jury have since stated under oath that they would have sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole had that been an option at the time of his 1991 trial. And, having subsequently learned that ample evidence was available demonstrating that he is significantly intellectually limited, including an undisputed IQ of 70 accompanied by significant adaptive deficits in basic coping skills involving things like communication, social skills, functional academics, abstract thinking, judgment, and impulse control, among others; the former jurors have indicated that life without parole is the most appropriate sentence for someone like Warren Hill. Furthermore, there is unanimous agreement by every doctor who has examined him that Warren Hill is a person with intellectual disability.
Importantly, a Georgia state court judge, convinced by the evidence, found Warren to be “mentally retarded” by a preponderance of the evidence in 2002, the same year the United States Supreme Court banned the execution of those with intellectual disability because their unique disability places them at “special risk of wrongful execution.” Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). However, Warren still faces execution solely because Georgia is the only state in the country to impose the law’s heaviest burden of proof, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” on defendants seeking to prove that they have an intellectual disability and are thus ineligible for execution.
Numerous mental health and disability groups, including the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, the ARC of Georgia, Georgia-based All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), have expressed their opposition to Mr. Hill’s execution.
I am deeply concerned that if Georgia puts Warren Hill to death, it will have failed to uphold its moral and legal obligation not to execute persons with mental retardation 13 years after passage of legislation banning such executions. I believe that the public interest would be served by commuting Warren Hill’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole. The Board’s discretion to commute Mr. Hill’s death sentence is Georgia’s last chance to prevent an unconscionable execution. The Board has the opportunity to act as the “fail safe” in this case where the legal mechanism of our capital punishment system made a mistake which it cannot or will not act to correct.
I ask you to please show Warren Hill mercy and grant him clemency.
I am writing to urge you to grant clemency to a man deserving of mercy, Warren Hill. The Board of Pardons and Paroles is an essential component of the justice system, and as members of the Board, you contributemercy and grace to a system that is often unable to consider either. This Board has the tremendous responsibility of evaluating the decisions of the Courts and occasionally modifying sentences when they do not serve the public interest or meet evolving standards of decency. I come to you now pleading for the life of Warren Hill, a 55 year old man with intellectual disability (formerly known as “mental retardation”).
Warren grew up in poverty in Elberton, Georgia with his brothers and sisters in a household where they were exposed to chronic domestic violence in which Warren’s alcoholic-dependent father would viciously assault his mother. In turn, Warren’s mother took her anger and despair out on Warren, beating him regularly. Warren suffered from debilitating seizures throughout his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Warren has a family history of “mental retardation” and borderline intellectual functioning. His jury heard almost nothing about these topics at his 1991 capital trial in rural Leesburg, Georgia. With only the choices of a life sentence with the chance of parole or the death penalty before them, jurors sentenced Warren to death.
Several jurors who sat on Warren’s original jury have since stated under oath that they would have sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole had that been an option at the time of his 1991 trial. And, having subsequently learned that ample evidence was available demonstrating that he is significantly intellectually limited, including an undisputed IQ of 70 accompanied by significant adaptive deficits in basic coping skills involving things like communication, social skills, functional academics, abstract thinking, judgment, and impulse control, among others; the former jurors have indicated that life without parole is the most appropriate sentence for someone like Warren Hill. Furthermore, there is unanimous agreement by every doctor who has examined him that Warren Hill is a person with intellectual disability.
Importantly, a Georgia state court judge, convinced by the evidence, found Warren to be “mentally retarded” by a preponderance of the evidence in 2002, the same year the United States Supreme Court banned the execution of those with intellectual disability because their unique disability places them at “special risk of wrongful execution.” Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). However, Warren still faces execution solely because Georgia is the only state in the country to impose the law’s heaviest burden of proof, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” on defendants seeking to prove that they have an intellectual disability and are thus ineligible for execution.
Numerous mental health and disability groups, including the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, the ARC of Georgia, Georgia-based All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), have expressed their opposition to Mr. Hill’s execution.
I am deeply concerned that if Georgia puts Warren Hill to death, it will have failed to uphold its moral and legal obligation not to execute persons with mental retardation 13 years after passage of legislation banning such executions. I believe that the public interest would be served by commuting Warren Hill’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole. The Board’s discretion to commute Mr. Hill’s death sentence is Georgia’s last chance to prevent an unconscionable execution. The Board has the opportunity to act as the “fail safe” in this case where the legal mechanism of our capital punishment system made a mistake which it cannot or will not act to correct.
I ask you to please show Warren Hill mercy and grant him clemency.
Why is this important?
Warren Hill is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on January 27, 2015.