State of Mississippi v. Willie C. Russell

MAXWELL, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. A jury sentenced Willie C. Russell to death for murdering a correctional officer. Russell later claimed he was intellectually disabled and thus could not be executed under Atkins v. Virginia . 1 In 2014, the trial court set an Atkins hearing to determine if Russell was intellectually disabled.

¶ 2. Prior to the hearing, the State moved to assess Russell based on his claimed intellectual disability. But Russell was opposed to the State's expert conducting an Atkins evaluation. Years earlier, in 2006, Russell had undergone psychological testing ordered in a…