Official : Lawyers Can Kill

The effect that a half hour talking to a lawyer can have on the contents of your wallet has long been recognised...but now it appears that it can have a detrimental effect on your health too.

In 2002 the US Supreme Court - in a move that George W would probably call "legislating from the bench" - ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded was unconstitutional. Crucially, however, their honours left the detailed minutiae of applying this ruling to the individual states(for example someone considered mentally retarded in New York or California might well be considered normal in, say Alabama or even a genius in Utah).

The petitioner who successfully argued the unconstitutionality of this quaint practice of executing the retarded was a guy called Daryl Atkins, convicted of capital murder in Virginia.

The state of Virginia decided upon a cut-off IQ (no pun intended) of 70.

This week Atkins was back in court where the prosecution successfully argued that the frequent contact Atkins had with his lawyers had raised his IQ up to 76.

He is now scheduled to be executed in December.

Logically his IQ cannot be that high if he was stupid enough not to flunk the IQ test (knowing, naturally that if he showed himself to be even vaguely intelligent the state was going to kill him). It remains to be seen whether the appellate courts will accept this argument.

The moral of the story would seem to be - if convicted of murder - play dumb and don't whatever you do communicate with your lawyers.

It should, of course be remembered that the 2002 ruling did not alter the other criteria necessary for the application of capital punishment : namely black skin and no money.