A handful of death row inmates could get their death...

A handful of death row inmates could get their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment thanks to a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that says both the Tennessee and federal constitutions bar executing anyone who is mentally retarded. The state's highest court ruled that the principle applies in all relevant death penalty cases tried since 1977, when Tennessee's death-penalty statute took effect, even though the Tennessee General Assembly did not bar executions of prisoners who are mentally retarded until 1990.