McCollum v. North Carolina

Background

Henry Lee “Buddy” McCollum, age 19 at the time, was one of four young men involved in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. Each accomplice raped the child; McCollum helped hold her down while another forced a stick into her mouth. He was the only one convicted of murder and the only one sentenced to die.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court denied review of his case. In a dissent, Justice Blackmun explained why he believes the death sentence is unconstitutional as applied to McCollum. Blackmun described strong mitigating evidence: McCollum is mentally retarded with an IQ between 60 and 69, a mental age around nine, and reading skills at a second-grade level. The sentencing jury found two aggravating factors and seven mitigating factors, and the trial judge concluded McCollum’s capacity to understand or control his conduct was impaired. The Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court had found the death sentence disproportionate.

Real world impact

Because the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, that decision leaves the state-court outcome in place for now. The dissent highlights serious concerns about executing someone with significant intellectual impairment and points to inconsistencies in how death sentences are applied in North Carolina. This ruling is not a Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty’s constitutionality; it is a denial of review.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Blackmun used his dissent to argue more broadly that the death penalty as currently administered fails to reliably identify who “deserves” death, and he viewed McCollum’s intellectual disability as dispositive against execution.