No. 23-7042

Willie James Pye v. Shawn Emmons, Warden

Lower Court: Georgia
Docketed: 2024-03-20
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability
Key Terms:
DueProcess Punishment Patent JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Can the State under Atkins v. Virginia execute a person who is intellectually disabled by all clinical standards?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Georgia requires persons with intellectual disability to prove their disability “beyond a reasonable doubt’ in order to vindicate their Eighth Amendment right to be free from execution. It is the only state to do so. Georgia’s onerous burden is an extreme outlier not merely on the issue of intellectual disability; to petitioner’s knowledge, no other state, in any other context, requires an individual to prove the factual predicate for any constitutional right beyond a reasonable doubt. Under this standard, Georgia will execute capital defendants who are more likely than not intellectually disabled. Indeed, it will even execute those who establish by clear and convincing evidence that they are intellectually disabled. The questions presented are: (1) Can the State under Atkins v. Virginia execute a person who is intellectually disabled by all clinical standards? (2)Can the State impose a burden of proof so onerous that it effectively eviscerates a substantive constitutional right? 1 PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI Petitioner WILLIE JAMES PYE petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the Supreme Court of Georgia. OPINIONS BELOW The unreported March 20, 2024, order of the Georgia Supreme Court denying Petitioner’s Certificate of Probable Cause to Appeal is attached as

Docket Entries

2024-03-20
Application (23A856) for a stay of execution of sentence of death, submitted to Justice Thomas.
2024-03-20
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 19, 2024)
2024-03-20
Brief of respondent Shawn Emmons in opposition filed.
2024-03-20
Application (23A856) referred to the Court.
2024-03-20
Petition DENIED.
2024-03-20
Application (23A856) for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
2024-03-20

Attorneys

Shawn Emmons
Patricia Beth BurtonState Law Department, Respondent
Patricia Beth BurtonState Law Department, Respondent
Willie Pye
Gretchen Mary StorkFederal Defender Program, Inc., Petitioner
Gretchen Mary StorkFederal Defender Program, Inc., Petitioner