Willie James Pye v. Shawn Emmons, Warden
DueProcess Punishment Patent JusticiabilityDoctri
Can the State under Atkins v. Virginia execute a person who is intellectually disabled by all clinical standards?
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