USA - Tennessee. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state Court of Criminal Appeals did not properly evaluate whether Byron Black, 55, black, has a mental disability.

Today the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the state Court of Criminal Appeals did not properly evaluate whether Byron Black, 55, black, has a mental disability. Black was sentenced to death in 1989 after he was found guilty of the 1988 killing of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and of her two minor daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. In 2006, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that Black was not mentally disabled. The court chose not to consider factors that could affect the accuracy of IQ tests, such as the “standard error of measurement” or the Flynn Effect, which “calls for adjusting downward the score that a subject receives on an older I.Q. test based on the idea that the general population’s level of knowledge increases over time.” The Tennessee Supreme Court, in an opinion this year, has subsequently ruled that such factors should be considered in assessing a defendant’s mental ability. The case has been remanded to U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell.