Hamm v. Smith · ¶123

I respectfully dissent from the Court's decision to leave this important question unanswered. At the very least, we should reverse the lower courts' erroneous analysis of Smith's scores and remand for a fresh consideration of his Atkins claim using any sound method. Even if our decision went no further, we would provide clarity and coherence to one aspect of our Atkins doctrine. Instead, the Court shies away from its obligation to provide workable rules for capital cases. In doing so, the Court disserves its own death- penalty jurisprudence, States' criminal-justice systems, lower courts, and victims of horrifc murders.

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