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Newsroom
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March 3rd 2006 • Printer version  CRUEL AND UNUSUAL The case that stopped executions of the mentally retarded
The lawyer who argued the 2002 Supreme Court case that stopped
executions of the mentally retarded will speak at the law school at
4:30 p.m. on Monday March 13 in Room 110, Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate
St. in Eugene.
The University of New Mexico professors interest in disability law
began many years ago when he worked at Yale Psychiatric Institute as a
conscientious objector. After law school at the University of
California (Boalt Hall), he worked at the Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law in Washington, D.C., before joining the University of New
Mexico law faculty 27 years ago.
INFO
A Driving Force - a story about Jim Ellis
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In Atkins v Virginia, the court agreed with Ellis that capital
punishment of prisoners with mental retardation violated the 8th
Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Soon
afterward, the National Law Journal named Ellis 2002 Lawyer of the
Year. He has also been recognized by the National Historic Trust on
Mental Retardation as one of the 20th centurys 36 most significant
individuals in the field of mental retardation.