Trumbull County judge strikes down death row inmate's "intellectual disability" claim
More than thirty years after Trumbull County murder investigation, a judge has once again ruled against an argument that the man accused of the crime was intellectually disabled.
WARREN, Ohio - More than thirty years after Trumbull County murder investigation, a judge has once again ruled against an argument that the man accused of the crime was intellectually disabled.
Judge Wyatt McKay issued a ruling Thursday that 50-year-old Andre Williams does not meet the criteria to be considered mentally disabled.
According to a court filing, Williams was convicted in 1988 on three counts of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder, and attempted rape.
The crime reportedly left George Melnick dead, and his wife Katherine Melnick blinded, in their Warren home.
A jury unanimously moved that Williams should be sentenced to death.
Following that verdict, Williams has filed several appeals and motions.
Most recently, the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals ordered the district courts to reassess Williams claims that a death penalty sentence would be a violation of his constitutional rights based on a 2020 Supreme Court Ruling in Atkins v. Virginia.
According to the Atkins ruling, the execution of "intellectually disabled" persons constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment. However, the 2002 Supreme Court ruling left it up to individual states to determine the basis of intellectual disability.
Ohio's guidelines, decided in State v. Lott, a murder case out of Cuyahoga County.
According to Judge McKay's ruling, those standards dictate that the standards by which intellectual disability is defined fall under three categories: significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, significant limitations in two or more adaptive skills, such as communication, self-care, and self-directions, and onset before age 18.
In addition, courts use an IQ score above 70 as one possible benchmark that can be used in addition to other evidence.
McKay's ruling states that several IQ test scores have been documented in Williams case- the first of which was conducted when he was just six-years old.
In that case, Williams had a documented IQ of 82. Subsequent tests throughout Williams childhood reported results of 76 and 78, and 67.
IQ test scores following Williams conviction reportedly showed varying scores of 75, 69, and 68.
Judge McKay says in his ruling that there is evidence to suggest that "while in prison, Williams routinely abused over-the-counter cough and cold medicine purchased through the commissary and through bartering with other inmates.
McKay's ruling goes on to state that "Williams admitted to taking up to 15 pills per day during he week which contributed to his compulsive masturbation".
The filing says that it "raises concerns about how his substance use could have negatively impacted his test performance at that point."
In addition to IQ scores, the court says Williams failed to prove his adaptive abilities are decreased.
In addition, though Williams was ordered to have an IQ low enough to necessitate additional resources while he attended Warren City Schools as a child, the court says he failed to prove "intellectual disability" before the age of 18.
