On a February afternoon in 1978, Freddie Hall and an accomplice kidnapped Karol Hurst, who was 21 years old and seven months pregnant. They drove her to nearby woodland where she was beaten, raped and murdered. After dumping her body, they used her car in a botched robbery of a corner shop, during which they killed Lonnie Coburn, a sheriff's deputy. The facts have never been in dispute. On the jury's recommendation, Mr Hall was sentenced to death in accordance with Florida law. In a long string of appeals the debate centred on whether this was the appropriate punishment. Mr Hall has an iq of about 71, well below the national average. He is now the longest-serving inmate on death row, and his case became news again recently when the Supreme Court ruled on executing people who are mentally disabled. The court struck down the state's rigid policy that anyone with an iq of more than 70 is mentally fit to die, regardless of other evidence. Mr Hall's lawyers insist that he is retarded and point to a history of child abuse. To what degree, then, should society blame him?
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