Supreme Court of California

Pursuant to Atkins v. Virginia (2002) 536 U.S. 304, which held that execution of the mentally retarded violates the Eighth Amendment, defendant-prisoner, who is under a judgment of death, is granted an evidentiary hearing on whether he is mentally retarded within the meaning of Atkins.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/10/2005
• Published 02/10/2005

Judges

• BROWN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Maria E. Stratton, Federal Public Defender, Sean Kennedy and Harry Simon, Deputy Federal Public Defenders, for Petitioner Anderson Hawthorne., Michael Laurence;  Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender;  and Michael Millman, Miami, FL, for Habeas Corpus Resource Center, Office of the State Public Defender, and California Appellate Project as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Anderson Hawthorne., Michele Uzeta for Protection & Advocacy, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Anderson Hawthorne., John T. Philipsborn, San Francisco, and Charles R. Weisselberg for California Attorneys for Criminal Justice as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Anderson Hawthorne., James W. Ellis, Steven K. Homer, Albuquerque, NM, and Carol M. Suzuki for the American Association of Mental Retardation and The Arc of the United States as Amici Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, john R. Gorey, Keith H. Borjon and Robert S. Henry, Deputy Attorneys General for Respondent State of California.