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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2001

Swapping one case for another, the Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the appeal of a Virginia man on death row whose lawyers say is mentally retarded.

The Court earlier this year had accepted the case of a North Carolina man considered mentally retarded. Yesterday, the Court said the appeal was "improvidently granted" since the state has since passed a law banning executions of mentally retarded convicts.

But rather than skirt the issue altogether, the Court merely accepted Daryl R. Atkin's appeal. Atkins, 23, was convicted of abduction and murder and is said to have an IQ of 59.

Get the Story:
Justices to Hear Appeal Of Virginia Execution (The Washington Post 9/26)

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