Washington’s mental retardation statute is not unconstitutional, and prosecutors will not be forced to abandon seeking the death penalty for a child killer, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne issued a 21-page written decision upholding the state law and letting the sentencing of Richard Matthew Clark go forward.
His lawyers maintained that Clark, 36, is mentally retarded, and state law prohibits executing mentally retarded people. The lawyers said that Clark’s IQ hovers just above the line set by state law and within a margin of testing error.
However, the lawyers presented no evidence that Clark is mentally retarded.
The lawyers, Jeffery Ellis of Seattle and Kevin Cole of Mercer Island, also argued that Clark has a right under the federal constitution to have a jury, not a judge, determine whether their client is mentally retarded.
Under state law, judges make that determination.
Wynne also found that a jury will be able to hear any evidence of Clark’s mental deficiencies and use it as a reason for leniency.
Clark, 36, was convicted of the 1995 rape and murder of Roxanne Doll, 7, of Everett. A jury then convicted him of aggravated murder and went back into session to determine that he should be executed.
The state Supreme Court upheld the conviction but said the jury had heard too much information during the sentencing hearing. The court sent the case back to Snohomish County for sentencing, which could wind up being the equivalent of a full-blown trial.
Ellis and Cole said Clark should only get the penalty for aggravated murder, life in prison without the possibility of release.
Courts around the United States have ruled since 2002 that mentally retarded people may not be executed.
Under Washington state law, an IQ of 70 or below is the mark set by the Legislature as the mental retardation level. Clark’s lawyers maintain his IQ is only a point or two above 70. Ellis said he’s prepared to bring in experts from around the world, if necessary, to show that the 70 IQ mark is not a rigid number in settling on mental retardation.
Deputy prosecutor Seth Fine argued that “the Legislature is entitled to employ a fixed standard to determine what degree of intellectual deficiency is sufficiently significant to prevent imposition of the death penalty in all cases. The (state) statute is constitutional as written.”
Clark’s sentencing trial is set for March, but the pre-trial maneuvering will continue.
Ellis and Cole have filed a half-dozen additional motions, on various grounds, seeking dismissal of the sentencing hearing.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
