Court Oks Retarded Man’s Sentence

The Idaho Court of Appeals has approved the conviction and prison sentence ordered for a Canyon County man who admitted shooting another man to death, even though his attorney argued the man wasn’t competent to stand trial.

Psychological testing indicated Dan D. Daniel was mildly retarded and had an IQ of 63-64, which would place him in the lowest 1 percent to 2 percent of those in his age bracket.

But one professional evaluation produced an opinion that Daniel could understand court proceedings and help his attorney with the defense. Based on that, the Court of Appeals upheld the process.

Two years ago, Daniel told authorities that Timothy Leary shot himself. He later admitted he pulled the trigger and pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter.