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Criminal Procedure Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Criminal Procedure

Democracy In Disguise: Assessing The Reforms To The Fundamental Rights Provisions In Guyana, Arif Bulkan Sep 2014

Democracy In Disguise: Assessing The Reforms To The Fundamental Rights Provisions In Guyana, Arif Bulkan

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.


Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Constitutionality Of Georgia's Burden Of Proof In Executing The Mentally Retarded, Veronica M. O'Grady Jan 2014

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Constitutionality Of Georgia's Burden Of Proof In Executing The Mentally Retarded, Veronica M. O'Grady

Georgia Law Review

In 2002, the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia announced that executing mentally retarded defendants violates the Constitution. Georgia's standard for determining whether a criminal defendant is mentally retarded-and therefore ineligible for the death penalty- is the highest in the nation, requiring defendants to prove mental retardation to a jury, during the guilt and innocence phase, beyond a reasonable doubt. As in the case of Warren Lee Hill, Jr., this high burden necessarily results in Georgia executing defendants who are almost certainly mentally retarded,arguably violating the Atkins directive. Though once the first state to create a ban on executing the …