Oklahoma Appeals Court Rejects Retardation Claim

An Oklahoma appeals court has rejected a death row inmate's claim that he should not be executed because of mental retardation.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals handed down the decision Thursday in the case of Patrick Dwayne Murphy. The 42-year-old Murphy was convicted of killing 49-year-old George Jacobs in 1999 in rural McIntosh County where Jacob's body was discovered in a ditch.

The U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of the mentally retarded. The Court of Criminal Appeals court has said an IQ of under 70 could be a determining factor in whether an inmate is retarded.

The five-member appeals court voted unanimously to uphold a district judge who found that Murphy's IQ was found to be 76 or higher on two scientifically recognized, standardized IQ tests.