For years the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), the nation's leading organization on intellectual and developmental disabilities, has taken a strong public position that Warren Hill, a man with intellectual disability, should not be executed, as have several other advocacy groups for persons with intellectual disability. Over two years ago I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post called "Supreme Court: Protect Intellectually Disabled GA Man From Execution" (
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-nygren/warren-hill-execution_b_1695334.html).
In 2013, the AAIDD filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that Mr. Hill must not be executed since all seven medical doctors who have examined him unanimously concur that Mr. Hill has intellectual disability, including the three doctors who previously testified for the state. As the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in
Hall v. Florida made plain, the courts must follow medical guidelines in making medical diagnoses, such as intellectual disability. Mr. Hill has a constitutional protection from execution, and we hope the Courts will fully review the flawed state standard which has allowed a man with intellectual disability to repeatedly face execution, and to continue to live on death row
Margaret A. Nygren, EdD
Executive Director & CEO, AAIDD