David Bobby, Warden v. Michael Bies (556 U.S. 825)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 2009 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 556 U.S. 825 · 129 S. Ct. 2145
- Decided
- June 1, 2009
- Term
- October Term 2008
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. In Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U. S. 304 (2002), this Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments” bars execution of mentally retarded offenders. Prior to Atkins, the Court had determined that mental retardation merited consideration as a mitigating factor, but did not bar imposition of the death penalty. See Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302 (1989). In 1992, nearly a decade before the Court’s decision in Atkins, respondent Michael Bies was tried and convicted in Ohio of the aggravated murder, kidnaping, and attempted rape of a ten-year-old boy. Instructed at the sentencing stage to weigh mitigating circumstances (including evidence of Bies’ mild to borderline mental retardation) against aggravating factors (including the brutality of the crime), the jury recommended a sentence of death, which the trial court imposed. Ohio’s appellate courts affirmed the conviction and sentence. The Ohio Supreme Court, in its 1996 opinion on direct review, observed that Bies’ “mild to borderline mental retardation merit[ed] some weight in mitigation,” but concluded that “the aggravating circumstances outweigh[ed] the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Bies, 74 Ohio St. 3d 320, 328, 658 N. E. 2d 754, 761-762. After this Court decided Atkins, the Ohio trial court ordered a full hearing…
Excerpt of a 19,118-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.