No. 12-10449
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
October Term, 2012
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
WARREN LEE HILL, JR.,
Petitioner,
-vCARL HUMPHREY, Warden,
Georgia Diagnostic Prison,
Respondent.
C A PI T A L C ASE : E X E C U T I O N SC H E D U L E D
F O R JU L Y 15, 2013 @ 7:00 P M
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
M O T I O N F O R ST A Y O F E X E C U T I O N
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Comes now, Petitioner, WARREN LEE HILL, JR., by and through undersigned counsel,
and prays that an Order be entered staying the execution of his sentence of death until further
Order of this Court, and in support of his application, respectfully states as follows:
1.
Petitioner filed the instant action on May 20, 2013, requesting that this Court
grant review of the Georgia Supreme Court’s denial of relief as to his claim of mental retardation under Atkins v. Virginia , 536 U.S. 304 (2002).
2.
Georgia has now scheduled Petitioner’s execution for July 15, 2013, at 7:00 PM.
Petitioner requests that the execution be stayed by this Court until the Petition for Writ of
Certiorari is considered and finally acted upon.
The petition is currently scheduled to be
conferenced on September 30, 2013.
3.
The Superior Court of Lee County, State of Georgia, set from noon on Saturday,
July 13th, 2013, through noon on Saturday, July 20th, 2013, as the period during which Petitioner’s execution may be carried out.
See Exhibit A (execution warrant), attached. The
execution is currently scheduled for Monday, July 15, 2013, at 7:00 PM. The Georgia Board of
Pardons and Paroles denied clemency on July 16, 2012, and declined to reconsider its decision
on February 19, 2013.
4.
A stay of execution is justified on the grounds that Petitioner faces imminent
execution despite the fact that he has effectively proven that he is mentally retarded beyond a
reasonable doubt, rendering his execution a grotesque miscarriage of justice. As set forth in his
Petition for Writ of Certiorari, all three government mental health experts who previously opined
that Petitioner’s adaptive deficits were not sufficient to warrant a diagnosis of mental retardation
have now testified that their prior conclusions were in error and that Petitioner does meet the
criteria for mental retardation. There is no longer any dispute among any of the experts who
have evaluated Petitioner that he is mentally retarded.
5.
The state courts below have declined to consider this new evidence.
6.
Moreover, any hope that Georgia’s clemency procedures would act as a “fail safe”1 to “correct injustices that the ordinary criminal process seems unable or unwilling to
1
Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 414 (1993).
2
consider,”2 disintegrated on February 19, 2013, with the Board of Pardons and Paroles final
denial of executive clemency.
7.
Petitioner is detained at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison, at Jackson, Georgia, under
a sentence of death. A stay of execution will not prejudice the State of Georgia or interfere with
Petitioner’s custodial status.
8.
A stay of execution is necessary to ensure that Petitioner is not executed before
this Court is able to resolve the matters contained in the Petition for Writ of Certiorari. The
execution of Petitioner would obviously inflict irreparable harm.
WHEREFORE, Petitioner respectfully requests an Order staying Petitioner’s execution,
pending resolution of the proceedings and further Order of this Court.3
Respectfully submitted this 8th day of July, 2013.
BRIAN S. KAMMER (counsel of record)
Georgia Resource Center
303 Elizabeth Street, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
(404) 222-9202
By: _________________________
COUNSEL FOR MR. HILL
2
Dretke v. Haley, 541 U. S. 386, 399 (2004) (Kennedy, J., dissenting).
3
Petitioner has also filed on this date a motion in the 11th Circuit in In re Hill , Case No.
13-10702, asking that court to stay Petitioner’s execution pending this Court’s resolution of the
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pending with this Court in Case No. 12-10469.
3
No. 12-10449
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
October Term, 2012
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
WARREN LEE HILL, JR.,
Petitioner,
-vCARL HUMPHREY, Warden,
Georgia Diagnostic Prison,
Respondent.
C A PI T A L C ASE : E X E C U T I O N SC H E D U L E D
F O R JU L Y 15, 2013 @ 7:00 P M
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
C E R T I F I C A T E O F SE R V I C E
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
This is to certify that I have served this 8th day of July, 2013, a copy of the foregoing
document this day by hand delivery/electronic mail, on counsel for Respondent at the following
address:
Beth Burton, Esq.
Office of the Attorney General
40 Capitol Square, S.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-1300
[email protected]
_______________________
Attorney