CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A psychologist has determined Wyoming’s lone death row inmate doesn’t qualify as intellectually disabled, a finding that closes what could have been a potential avenue for additional appeals.
Inmate Dale Wayne Eaton, 69, was sentenced to death in 2004 in state court for the 1988 rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Mont. Eaton’s lawyers don’t dispute he killed Kimmell.
She disappeared in 1988 while driving across Wyoming. Her body was found later in the North Platte River. Investigators linked Eaton to her killing through DNA evidence while he was serving prison time on an unrelated offense. Investigators later dug up her car on his property west of Casper.
Eaton’s fate now hangs on a federal court proceeding in Cheyenne, where his lawyers are arguing that his state team failed to present an adequate defense.
Eaton’s legal team put on an evidentiary hearing last summer before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne.
Eaton’s lawyers have tried to establish that his trial team failed to show jurors details about how his tortured family history, childhood and long-term mental and emotional problems. They say the jury might have spared his life if they knew more about him.
Last summer, Johnson approved a $14,000 request from Eaton’s lawyers for further testing after the lawyers said they had uncovered new evidence that Eaton’s IQ might be so low that he could be covered by the federal ban against executing people with intellectual disabilities.
Eaton’s lawyers filed the resulting report from psychologist Daniel J. Reschly in court this week. Reschly concludes that Eaton’s IQ score puts him just above the range that would make him ineligible for the death penalty.
Reschly found Eaton’s IQ to be 78.6 - just 3.7 points above the level at which he said intellectual disability typically is diagnosed.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 banned the execution of a “mentally retarded offender” on the grounds that it violates the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments again last month in a Florida case focusing on the practice in that state and others that bars an inmate from claiming mental disability when his IQ score is over 70. A decision on that case is pending.
While Reschly said he couldn’t conclude that Eaton qualifies as mentally disabled, he wrote, “Questions of eligibility for the death penalty aside, my examination produced substantial evidence of developmental disability, that in connection with Mr. Eaton’s other psychiatric and emotional impairments, should be given great weight in favor of a decision to spare him from capital punishment.”
Attempts to reach members of Eaton’s legal team on Tuesday were unsuccessful. They stated in a motion submitting Reschly’s report to Johnson that they wouldn’t press the intellectual disability issue and that the case set for the judge to make his final decision.
David Delicath, a senior lawyer with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, represents the state in arguing against Eaton’s federal appeal. Delicath said Tuesday that he had no comment on Reschly’s report and said the state won’t file anything in response.
Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen originally prosecuted Eaton in state court. He said Friday that he hadn’t read Reschly’s report.
However, Blonigen said he didn’t believe it would be proper for a mental health professional to offer an opinion that their findings should argue against imposing the death penalty.
“That really isn’t within the realm of a mental health expert’s opinion on what weight should be given different evidence,” Blonigen said. “That’s up to a jury.”
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