WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court grappled Wednesday with how to consider multiple IQ scores when determining if a defendant is intellectually disabled and thus should be spared from the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment.

The case stems from an Alabama man, Joseph Clifton Smith, 55, who was convicted and sentenced to die for beating a man to death in 1997. After Smith challenged his sentence, lower courts ruled that he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution.

But Alabama seeks to implement the death penalty that was originally imposed on Smith because it argues that Smith is not, in fact, intellectually disabled. The state wants guidance on how to handle multiple scores, such as Smith’s.

Smith has taken five IQ tests throughout his life and received scores that range

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