Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The record before us, which was more fully developed on remand following Atkins , affirmatively establishes that, well before age eighteen, [Smith] had significantly subaverage intellectual functioning. Specifically, as early as age eight, his IQ score was 61. There is also an indication that [Smith’s] IQ at age twelve was 66. From an early age, [Smith] performed poorly in school. As a result, he was classified as educably mentally retarded and was placed in special education classes. Finally, subsequent Stanford Achievement Test scores showed that he was below average in the majority of the areas tested. “When it conducted its plain error review of this issue based on the record before it, the Alabama Supreme Court did not have the benefit of information about [Smith’s] IQ scores and adaptive skills before the age of eighteen. In fact, it specifically noted that, based on the record before it at that time, it did not need to address the matter of whether [Smith’s] problems manifested themselves before the age of eighteen. Likewise, [Dr.] D’Errico did not have such information when he first concluded that [Smith] was mildly mentally deficient. However, he explained that the additional information about [Smith’s] IQ scores and adaptive skills before the age of eighteen caused him to change his initial opinion and conclude that [Smith] was indeed mildly mentally retarded. “In addition, the record affirmatively establishes that [Smith] had significant or substantial deficits in”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Ex parte State

2. ““We reject Smith’s contention that in light of the holding in Atkins , we must remand this cause for the trial court to conduct a hearing to determine if he is mentally retarded and therefore not subject to the death penalty. Plain error did not occur in that regard in this case. (( “Based on the facts presented at Smith’s trial, under even the broadest definition of mental retardation Smith is not mentally retarded. Those states that have statutes prohibiting the execution of a mentally retarded defendant require that to be considered mentally retarded a defendant must have significantly subaverage intellectual functioning (an IQ score of 70 or below) and significant or substantial deficits in adaptive behavior. Additionally, those problems must have manifested themselves before the defendant reached age 18. [[Image here]] “The testimony with regard to Smith’s intellectual functioning indicates that he falls within the borderline to mildly mentally retarded range with an overall IQ score of 72 a year after the murders, which seriously undermines any conclusion that Smith suffers from significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as contemplated under even the broadest definitions. “Likewise, with regard to evidence of ‘significant’ or ‘substantial’ deficits in adaptive behavior, our review of the rec ord indicates little, if any, deficit. At the time of the murders, Smith had had an ongoing year-long relationship with his girlfriend. His articulate testimony indicates th”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Ex parte State

3. ““Mild[ly] mentally deficient refers to intellectual ability as measured by an intelligence test. Mild[ly] mentally retarded is an official diagnosis which involves not only intellectual deficits, but as I stated before, deficits in independent living. When I reviewed Mr. Smith’s case, I found that he was living independently at a level, probably, higher than a mentally retarded individual would be living. Therefore, I felt that I was at a loss to come up with a diagnosis of mental retardation. However, his score on the intelligence test placed him in the mild range of mental deficiency.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Ex parte State