Michael Wayne Howell v. State of Tennessee

This case comes before us on a motion to reopen a petition for post-conviction relief. The
petitioner alleges that he is mentally retarded as defined in Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13- 203(a) (2003), and therefore ineligible for the death penalty under State v. Van Tran, 66 S.W.3d 790  that the petitioner failed to make a prima facie showing of mental retardation sufficient to support reopening his post-conviction proceeding, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the denial. We reverse the Court of Criminal Appeals, holding that under the specific facts of this case, in which a petitioner is able, for the first time in his motion to reopen his petition for post-conviction relief, to claim ineligibility for the death penalty due to mental retardation under Van Tran or Atkins, the motion should be considered under the “colorable claim” evidentiary standard rather than the “clear and convincing” standard. We also hold that Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-203(a) (2003) clearly and unambiguously requires the defendant to have an I.Q. of seventy or below to be considered mentally retarded. We conclude that the petitioner’s motion to reopen his postconviction hearing set out a colorable claim, thus entitling him to an evidentiary hearing, without a jury, on the issue of mental retardation.