Zant v. Pitts

Fletcher, Justice.

Pitts was convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to death. His conviction and death sentence were affirmed on direct appeal in Pitts v. State, 259 Ga. 745 (386 SE2d 351) (1989). Pitts thereafter filed a petition for habeas corpus raising a number of issues, including ineffectiveness of counsel. The habeas court found that trial counsel were generally effective, but that they were ineffective for failing to introduce evidence that Pitts might be mentally retarded, even though recently enacted OCGA § 17-7-131 provided that a guilty-but-mentally-retarded defendant…