Michael Bies

[thinkinkmesa]

Michael Bies

High court rules for Ohio in death penalty case
June 1, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the
state of Ohio should have another chance to sentence a convicted
killer to death, despite a previous factual finding that the man is
mentally retarded.

The court on Monday said a federal appeals court acted too quickly in
throwing out the death sentence for Michael Bies, after the Supreme
Court barred execution of mentally retarded people in 2002.

The ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati was
based on an earlier review of Bies' case by an Ohio court. While
upholding his death sentence, the Ohio Supreme Court found that Bies
was mentally retarded and had an IQ of 69.

That determination was made before the high court set new standards
in the 2002 ruling. "Mental retardation was not a conclusive or
necessary determination in any Ohio court proceeding to date,"
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.

Bies will now get a chance to argue that he should be spared
execution because of mental retardation and prosecutors may try to
rebut his claim and say Bies still is deserving of death for killing
a 10-year-old boy who refused to perform a sex act.

The case is Bobby v. Bies, 08-598.



www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jfqjn_b-budZ3K3Xzxduj7macZSwD98HU8H00

Supreme Court Opinion on OH - Bobby v Bies case.
www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-598.pdf

[thinkinkmesa]

Supreme Court Reinstates Death Sentence For Local Killer
Bies Killed 10-Year-Old Boy In 1992


WASHINGTON D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court has returned a Cincinnati man to death row, at least for now.


The court reinstated the death sentence of Michael Bies for the 1992 murder of Aaron Raines, a 10-year-old Cincinnati boy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit set aside the death sentence last year, ruling that Bies could not be executed because he had established that he was mentally retarded in an earlier court proceeding.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray appealed, arguing that no determination about mental retardation had yet been made by the state courts in the Bies case.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on April 27 and issued its unanimous opinion on Monday morning.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision," Cordray said in a news release. "When a death-row inmate seeks to set aside his death sentence based on claims of mental disability, we must carefully investigate the facts, consult with mental health experts, and hold a hearing. We were just about to begin that process for Mr. Bies when the Sixth Circuit stopped us."

[Aaron Raines]
Aaron Raines
Bies and an accomplice lured Raines into an abandoned building and bludgeoned him to death. A Hamilton County jury convicted Bies of aggravated murder, attempted rape and kidnapping, and further recommended a sentence of death.

The Supreme Court's decision returns this case to the Hamilton County courts, which will now conduct a hearing, take evidence and issue a finding on Bies' mental capacity.

If the courts determine that Bies is mentally retarded, they must set aside his death sentence.
www.wlwt.com/news/19623811/detail.html

Previous Stories:

* April 24, 2009: Supreme Court Gets Hamilton County Death Penalty Case
www.wlwt.com/news/19271502/detail.html

[thinkinkmesa]

State Can Relitigate Inmates’ Retardation



WASHINGTON — Elaborating on its 2002 decision banning the execution of the mentally retarded, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that prosecutors in Ohio should have a fresh opportunity to prove that a death row inmate there was not retarded and thus was eligible to be executed. The prosecutors were not bound, the court said, by statements in court decisions issued before 2002 saying that he was retarded.
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The inmate, Michael Bies, was convicted in 1992 of kidnapping and murdering a 10-year-old boy. At the time, mental retardation was a factor that juries could consider in deciding on the proper sentence.

During the sentencing hearing in Mr. Bies’s case, the jury heard testimony from a psychiatrist who said Mr. Bies was “mildly mentally retarded to borderline mentally retarded.” The psychiatrist said that Mr. Bies’s I.Q. was in the “65-75 range,” and that he “carries out the activities of daily life fairly independently.”

The jury recommended a death sentence without indicating what role the evidence about retardation had played in its decision, and the trial judge accepted that recommendation.

In affirming Mr. Bies’s conviction and sentence, state courts in Ohio said he suffered “mild to borderline mental retardation” that warranted some weight in determining the proper sentence. But they found that other factors were more important and justified a death sentence.

When the Supreme Court barred the execution of retarded offenders in Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, it did not specify how states were to determine retardation. The Ohio Supreme Court later ruled that defendants claiming retardation must prove three things: “significantly sub-average intellectual functioning,” which would be presumed if the defendant’s I.Q. was under 70; a lack of two or more fundamental social and practical skills; and that both conditions were present before age 18.

Last year, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said prosecutors had “litigated and lost the issue of petitioner’s mental retardation” and could not reopen the question. The court ordered that Mr. Bies be “resentenced to receive a sentence other than death.”

But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court in the case, Bobby v. Bies, No. 08-598, said the state courts had not “devoted detailed attention to the issue of mental retardation.”

“No court found, for instance,” Justice Ginsburg wrote, “that Bies suffered ‘significant limitation in two or more adaptive skills.’ ”

Mr. Bies’s lawyers argued that requiring a new hearing on the question of retardation would subject their client to a form of double jeopardy. Justice Ginsburg said double-jeopardy protection was unavailable to Mr. Bies because he had not prevailed at his trial and because the court determinations concerning retardation were not necessary to the outcomes in the earlier proceedings.

The lower federal courts should have allowed the state court to go forward with a hearing on whether Mr. Bies was indeed retarded, Justice Ginsburg concluded. “Recourse first to Ohio’s courts is just what this court envisioned,” she wrote, “in remitting to the states responsibility for implementing the Atkins decision.”
www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/us/02scotus.html?ref=us

[thinkinkmesa]

Child killer might be executed after all

By Alex Shebar • ashebar@enquirer. com • June 1, 2009

Barbara Raines has waited almost two decades for justice for her
slain son. Monday, she came one step closer, but she says it's still
not enough.

Raines wants the state to finally execute Michael Bies, the man who
murdered and tried to rape her son.

"He's been sitting there for almost 18 years and if they could go
ahead and do it, that'd be great," she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the state of
Ohio should have another chance to sentence Bies to death, despite a
previous ruling that the man was mentally retarded and, therefore,
could not be executed.

Beis, 36, and Darryl Gumm, 46, were convicted of killing 10-year-old
Aaron Raines of Price Hill in 1992. They brought him to an abandoned
building and beat him to death after the boy refused to perform a
sexual act. They were both sentenced to death.

These sentences were later reviewed after the Supreme Court's 2002
decision that barred execution of the mentally disabled.

"Mental retardation was not a conclusive or necessary determination
in any Ohio court proceeding to date," said Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg during the decision.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned Bies'
death sentence in 2005. They found the Ohio Supreme Court had noted
he was mentally retarded and had an IQ of 69 when his original
sentence was given.

On Monday, the Supreme Court said the appeals court acted too quickly
when throwing out Beis' death sentence. They have granted a new
hearing to prove if he is actually mentally retarded.

"Everyone in the judiciary system is super careful when you deal with
the death penalty, and that's the way it should be," said Joe Deters,
Hamilton County prosecutor. "Its shame it's taken this long, but it
was unanimous decision and I think it was the right decision."

Bies will now get a chance to argue that he should be spared
execution because of mental retardation. Prosecutors may try to rebut
this claim.

"The Ohio courts have developed detailed procedures for handling
these claims," said Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray in a
statement. "Mr. Bies will receive a full and fair hearing."

If he is not found mentally retarded, his original death sentence
will stand.

"Justice should be served," said Bill Raines, Aaron's uncle, who
worries that Bies could eventually get out and hurt someone else. "I
think this is great news for every little kid around. I think this is
great, personally."

The death sentence for Gumm was changed in 2007 to 48 years to life
after trial and appeals courts upheld his mental disability claim.
Deters said he is appealing this ruling as well.

The date for Bies' hearing has not been set. Deters says he hopes to
restore the original death sentence.

"I just hope someday we have the chance the bring Aaron's family some
sort of justice," he said. "This murder was something I'll live with
for the rest of my life and I can't even imagine what Aaron's mother
is going through."

The Associated Press contributed to this story
news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20090601/NEWS0107/906020348/