USA - Arizona. The Ninth Circuit overturned the death sentence of Robert Douglas Smith

The Ninth Circuit overturned 2-1 the death sentence of Robert Douglas Smith. Smith, 67, White, was sentenced to death on May 27, 1982 for the March 11, 1980 rape and murder of Sandra Owen, a young woman with mental problems. Smith once scored 62 on an intelligence test - where an IQ of 65 or below qualifies as mental retardation, and today the appeal court converted the sentence to life in prison. "There can be no doubt that the crime in this case was truly horrific," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote a divided 3-judge panel. "The Constitution, however, regards intellectually disabled defendants as less morally culpable for their crimes, and for this reason, prohibits their execution." In earlier years, Smith had been held back in every grade and sent to a special school for children for children unable to learn. He was only in the 8th grade when he turned 16 and dropped out. The Ninth Circuit converted Smith's sentence saying Smith's IQ may have improved while in prison, but that he was clearly intellectually disabled at the time in 1980.