Bobby v. Bies, 08-598, 129 S.Ct. ___
06-01-09, U.S.
Holding: A state prisoner who was sentenced to death before Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), outlawed the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants, and whom the state courts acknowledged suffered from a level of mental retardation that had some weight as a mitigating factor, may now be subjected to an Atkins proceeding to determine whether the extent of his mental impairment allows his execution. The State court’s determination that Defendant’s mental retardation was a mitigating factor does not trigger Double Jeopardy Clause’s doctrine of issue preclusion because only prevailing parties may avail themselves of that doctrine and the prisoner was condemned to death the first time around. State did not vigorously contest Defendant’s evidence of mental retardation offered in mitigation at sentencing, but now has a chance to go back and relitigate the matter now that proof of mental retardation precludes imposition of the death penalty. Double Jeopardy preclusion doctrine “does not bar a full airing of the issue whether Bies qualifies as mentally retarded under Atkins.” Court noted that in Atkins, it left it up to the states to devise their own frameworks for determining whether mental retardation renders a particular defendant ineligible for execution. Held, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion at 519 F.3d 324 reversed and remanded.
