The Georgia House Unanimously Passes Bill to Protect People with Intellectual Disability from the Death Penalty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Kathryn Hamoudah 404/688-1202 or [email protected]
Atlanta, GA—For the past eight years, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR), along with organizational partners, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL), Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP), and others have worked tirelessly to change a law that puts people with intellectual disability at greater risk of execution than any other state. House Bill 123 (HB 123), sponsored by Representative Bill Werkheiser (Glennville), seeks to protect those with intellectual disability and end the unconstitutional practice of sentencing them to death. On March 4, 2025, HB 123 passed unanimously out of the House.
Since 1976, SCHR has had a measurable impact on transforming the criminal legal system by challenging unconstitutional and unconscionable practices across the Deep South. SCHR has argued and won five death penalty cases at the United States Supreme Court, four of which challenged profound race discrimination in capital trials. SCHR won a decision from the Georgia Supreme Court outlawing the use of the electric chair and deeming it “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia that executing people with intellectual disability amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, Georgia remains the only state in the country that forces people to prove their disability beyond a reasonable doubt to avoid execution.
Georgia is also the only state that asks a jury to decide both guilt and intellectual disability at the same time, making it more difficult and confusing for jurors to evaluate each separately.
HB 123 is a long overdue reform that makes two important changes to Georgia law:
- It lowers the standard of proof from beyond a reasonable doubt to preponderance of the evidence, aligning with nearly every other state.
- It ensures that determining intellectual disability is separate from determining guilt in capital cases.
Separating these two determinations is essential to the reform. Every other state—including Alabama, Texas, Florida, and South Carolina—separates the two determinations, yet they all have active death penalty systems. Georgia would be no different.
Why HB 123 Matters
- It upholds constitutional protections—The Supreme Court has said that executing people with intellectual disability is unconstitutional. This bill will ensure that we do not.
- It has a limited scope—Only a small percentage of death penalty cases involve claims of intellectual disability. This bill would not apply to most death penalty cases, and it would not apply to older cases.
- It lessens bias in capital cases—The Supreme Court has said that evidence about the crime is irrelevant to the determination of intellectual disability. Separating the determinations of guilt and intellectual disability will improve accuracy in the decision-making process.
“We are deeply grateful for Chairman Werkheiser’s leadership and partnership on HB 123. This bill is a monumental step towards ensuring that people with intellectual disability are safe from execution in our state.” Terrica Ganzy, Executive Director Southern Center for Human Rights. SCHR will continue to offer technical policy assistance as lawmakers consider this historic proposal.
HB 123 moves to the Senate for consideration, and upon passage, will go to Governor Kemp for his signature.
SCHR developed a toolkit that explains the current law and how the changes proposed by HB123 would better protect people with intellectual disabilities from the death penalty: www.schr.org/idtoolkit