Ybarra v. State

OPINION

By the Court,

Parraguirre, J.:

A jury sentenced appellant Robert Ybarra, Jr., to death in 1981 for the murder of 16-year-old Nancy Griffith. Two decades later, the United States Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), that the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment precludes the execution of mentally retarded persons. In compliance with Atkins, the Nevada Legislature adopted a statutory provision to address claims of mental retardation involving defendants who, like Ybarra, were sentenced to death before the decision in Atkins. NRS 175.554(5).…