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Appellate Court Opinions in the Daryl Atkins Murder Case

Eligible for Execution discusses the major appellate court rulings pertaining to the Atkins case. Readers may find the full text of those opinions by clicking the links that appear below.

Atkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1999)
The Supreme Court of Virginia upholds the 1998 conviction of Daryl Atkins on capital murder charges, but vacates the death sentence because of a defective verdict form. The case is returned to the Circuit Court of York County.

Atkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia (2000)
The Supreme Court of Virginia upholds the death sentence recommended by a second jury in 1999. Two justices dissent arguing that Atkins’s mental retardation renders an execution inappropriate.

Atkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia (2002)
The United States Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision holds that the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause bars the execution of the mentally retarded. Penry v. Lynaugh (1989) is overruled. The Atkins case is sent back to the Virginia Supreme Court for further proceedings.

Atkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia (2003)
The Supreme Court of Virginia rejects Atkins’s petition to commute his sentence to life in prison. The justices, applying a revised Virginia statute, remand the case to the Circuit Court of York County ordering that it conduct a trial to determine if Daryl Atkins is retarded.

Atkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia (2006)
The Virginia Supreme Court reverses the conclusion of the trial court jury that Daryl Atkins failed to prove that he is mentally retarded, finding that inappropriate information was given to the jury at the beginning of the trial and that a prosecution expert witness did not possess the necessary qualifications required under Virginia law. The case is sent back to the Circuit Court of York County with instructions to conduct a second retardation trial.

In Re: Commonwealth of Virginia (2009)
The Virginia Supreme Court rejects the prosecution's petitions for writs of mandamus and prohibition. These petitions were filed in an attempt to nullify Judge Smiley's commutation of Daryl Atkins's death sentence to life in prison without parole and to force a second retardation trial.