In Salt Lake City, the Utah Senate unanimously approved...

In Salt Lake City, the Utah Senate unanimously approved a bill that would bring Utah's death penalty law in line with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in the case of Atkins v. Virginia that executing mentally retarded murderers is unconstitutionally cruel. However, the court left it to the states to define mental retardation.
Sponsored by Ogden Republican Sen. David Gladwell, the bill provides that definition, sets parameters regarding when it can be raised as a defense and determines who makes the finding during the prosecution of a case.
Using school records, IQ tests and psychological evaluations, a judge would decide if a defendant had "significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning" or "significant deficiencies in adaptive functioning".
The measure will be forwarded to the House for consideration.