The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of a Death Row inmate so a hearing can be held to determine the validity of a new standardized IQ test that could spare his life by showing he's mentally retarded.
The justices issued the 5-2 decision just hours after hearing oral argument.

A lawyer for the state had urged that murder convict David Johnston be executed on schedule Tuesday for stabbing and strangling 84-year-old Mary Hammond at her Orlando home in 1983.

Florida Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Nunnelley said the mental retardation issue was resolved in 2005 when an older edition of the test showed Johnston had an IQ of 84, which was consistent with several earlier scores. That's well above 70, which many experts consider the dividing line for determining retardation.

Johnston scored only 61, though, last year on a newer edition -- the fourth -- of the Weschsler Adult Intelligent Scales IQ test.

The high court majority agreed with Johnston's lawyer, D. Todd Doss, who argued a hearing should be held to take evidence on which test is more accurate. Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissented.

``Each version of the test becomes more and more accurate,'' said Doss, a private lawyer appointed to represent Johnston. ``I would liken it to if we were to compare it to the advance from a sundial to a clock to a digital clock.''

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that executing retarded people was a violation of the constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. An IQ score is just one factor in the legal test for mental retardation. A person also must show limitations in adaptive skills such as communicating and self-care before age 18.

Johnston, 49, had attended a school for mentally retarded children.

Miami Herald