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This table summarizes the five IQ tests at issue in this case:

Date Age & IQ Test Score
1979 Age 8: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -Revised (“WAIS-R”) 75

1982 Age 12: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (“WISC-R”) 74

1998 Age 28: WAIS-R 72

2014 Age 44: Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (“SB-5”) 78
2017 Age 47: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition (“WAIS-IV”) 74

After receiving the additional evidence (of the entire range of Smith’s IQ

scores and of his struggles to interact with others and society), the District Court—
as affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit opinion at issue in this case—determined that,

though it was a close case, Smith had proven “by a preponderance of the evidence

that he has significantly subaverage intellectual functioning and significant deficits in

adaptive behavior” that “manifested during his developmental period.”

His death sentence was vacated. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed. The Supreme

Court issued a GVR (grant, vacate, and remand) asking the circuit to explain how

it analyzed the range of scores, since an Atkins claim per Alabama law requires an
individual’s IQ to be 70 or below. But here, Smith had a range of scores and only the

lowest score could be viewed as meeting the threshold if the SEM was used to move

the 72 score downward.

On remand, the Eleventh Circuit issued a new opinion “reject[ing] any suggestion

that a court may ever conclude that a capital defendant suffers from significantly

subaverage intellectual functioning based solely on the fact that the lower end of

the standard-error range for his lowest of multiple IQ scores is 69.” Smith v. Comm’r,
Alabama Dep’t of Corr., No. 21-14519, 2024 WL 4793028, at *1 (11th Cir. Nov. 14, 2024).

According to the panel, “the district court used a ‘holistic approach to multiple IQ

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