Coonce v. United States

Issues: (1) Whether, because the age at which a capital defendant became intellectually disabled does not bear on his moral culpability, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit erred in concluding that the Eighth and Fifth Amendments permit the government to execute the petitioner, Wesley Coonce ― though his 71 I.Q. and severe adaptive deficits otherwise meet the criteria for a medical diagnosis of intellectual disability that would bar his execution under 18 U.S.C. § 3596(c) and Atkins v. Virginia ― solely because his impairment originated at age 20 rather than before age 18; and (2) whether the 8th Circuit erred in concluding, like other circuits but unlike numerous state courts of last resort, that notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s recent teaching concerning the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause, its 70-year-old decision in Williams v. New York allows the admission of testimonial hearsay to prove an aggravating factor at a capital sentencing hearing.