Florida based prison Freddie Le Hall has applied for the execution protection plea under the pretext of mental disability but the State claims that Hall “the death row inmate” is not mentally disabled and has IQ level as high as 70. The Florida State has taken 9 tests of Freddie from 1968 to 2008 and his lowest IQ level was recorded as 60 and the highest level of IQ level score fell around 80.
Actually, Supreme Court had disallowed the states from executing the inmates having mental illness in 2002 and given the IQ determination right to the respective states. The Florida state has devised a certain mental determination system on the basis of which if a person has 70 IQ level would not be considered as mentally disable.
On the other hand, the lawyer of Freddie writes to court that “The IQ tests are not perfect measures to determine ones intellectual capability”. Freddie has also challenged the IQ cut off of the State and called it rigid.
It goes without saying, a Judge, Professors and Psychiatrists have already concluded him as mentally retarded person and not qualifying for the execution punishment. Actually, he had murdered a 21 years old pregnant woman (Karol Hurst) who was abducted from a Florida store and killed in 1978. Under the punishment act, he had to be executed for murdering a citizen but his mental disability has been safeguarding him from this punishment.
Last but not the least, he had also killed a deputy of sheriff and had been punished for 35 years of imprisonment. And, his death execution plea to Supreme Court is under consideration.