Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.

On Wednesday, Florida plans to execute David Joseph Pittman. He is to be put to death for his role in a triple homicide that occurred 35 years ago.

Pittman is severely intellectually disabled . He has had long-standing cognitive impairments, having registered an IQ score of 70 before he turned 18. His lawyers note that he “has trouble reading basic words like ‘dog,’ ” and that he “often needs to have things explained to him repeatedly.”

In addition, Pittman is caught in a legal morass about whether the Supreme Court’s 2002 prohibition on executing the intellectually disabled applies retroactively . In 2016, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that it should.

T

See Full Page