Ybarra v. Gittere et. al.
Filed: August 29, 2023
Court: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Overview: Amicus brief in a death penalty case filed to prevent a man with an intellectual disability from facing execution.
Excerpt: “Relying on stereotypes or lay assumptions about what a person with ID “must” look like, or what people with ID “cannot” do, rather than applying clinical standards for assessment and diagnosis may result in an unreasonable (and invalid) interpretation of the diagnostic facts in an Atkins evaluation. See, e.g., Brumfield v. Cain, 576 U.S. 305, 312-320 (2015) (finding an unreasonable interpretation of the facts where a state court abandoned clinical standards in determining that an individual was ineligible for an Atkins adjudication). In this context, a clinically invalid assessment risks execution of an individual with ID, a clear Constitutional violation.”
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