
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994                    TAG: 9406060053 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D1    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY HUNTER T. GEORGE II, ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940606                                 LENGTH: RALEIGH

BILL EXEMPTING RETARDED \

{LEAD} It's been months since the House and Senate passed bills to prohibit mentally retarded people from being sentenced to death in murder cases, but debate over who would be exempt has stalled the measure indefinitely.

``We just think that the death penalty is too high a price to pay for somebody who, with mental retardation, may not understand the consequences of their action,'' said Dave Richard, executive director of the Association for Retarded Citizens.

{REST} Most state lawmakers would seem to agree, because both chambers passed a bill last summer that would exempt the mentally retarded from the death penalty. But legislators haven't been able to ratify it because of a dispute over the definition of mentally retarded.

Under the bill passed by the House in May 1993, a judge would have to determine if:

the person had an IQ of 70 or below.

the person was socially inept.

the retardation manifested itself before age 18.

In July, four days before the Legislature adjourned last year, the Senate passed a bill that set the IQ benchmark at 60.

The House and Senate appointed a conference committee to resolve their differences, but they could not do it before adjournment. The issue did not come up during the special crime session earlier this year.

One week into the 1994 short session, lawmakers from both sides said they aren't meeting because neither side will budge. The bill will die if it's not acted upon before the end of the session, which lawmakers hope to end by early July.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Toby Fitch, D-Wilson, blamed the Senate for the stalemate. He said an IQ of 70 is a professional standard for mental retardation used by national and state mental health associations.

Richard, whose group represents 5,000 North Carolina families that have mentally retarded relatives, agreed.

``It has been the standard for mental retardation forever. Lowering it to 60 is changing the definition,'' he said.

An adult with an IQ of 70 has the approximate mental age of an 11-year-old, according to the North Carolina Psychological Association.

But Sen. Dennis Winner, who's a member of the conference committee, said scientific data was too hazy for him to trust using an IQ of 70.

``It's the toughest issue that I dealt with (last year). And I said on the floor I was a lot more comfortable with 60 because it was clearer to me that is not a borderline case. That is not clear to me that 70 is not borderline,'' said Winner, D-Buncombe.

Winner also suggested that Fitch's bill may not be necessary.

``If you don't have the capacity to understand what you're doing . . . then you're not guilty by reason of insanity,'' Winner said.

{KEYWORDS} MENTALLY RETARDED DEATH PENALTY CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by CNB