Low IQ could mean new sentence for death row inmate

PORTLAND – A death row inmate convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend could get a new sentencing trial based on his possible intellectual disability.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported judges recently issued separate rulings against the sentence Michael Davis received.

Davis fatally shot 32-year-old Gerald Glenn Phillips and 30-year-old Belinda Fay Flannigan in 1991.

A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling says it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute those with intellectual disabilities.

An attorney for Davis said several death sentences have been overturned in Oregon since that ruling.

Prosecutors argued that racial bias led Davis to score low on IQ tests when he was a student in Los Angeles.

Davis could spend life in prison with or without the possibility of parole if he is resentenced.