Georgia's Supreme Court today will hear an appeal in the case of a man on death row, and the question of the man's mental capacity. James Randall Rogers was convicted for the 1980 brutal beating death of his 75-year-old neighbor in Floyd County. Rogers landed on death row before a 1988 Georgia law that bans the execution of the mentally retarded. The question of Rogers' mental capacity came before a jury in a 2005 trial--the jury ruled that Rogers was not mentally retarded. Rogers' lawyers in today's appeal will argue that multiple errors by the trial judge denied their client a right to a fair trial.
