Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Under present law, a defendant with intellectual disability at the time of committing first degree murder cannot be sentenced to death. Present law defines "intellectual disability" to mean: (1) Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning as evidenced by a functional I.Q. of 70 or below; (2) Deficits in adaptive behavior; and (3) The intellectual disability must have been manifested during the developmental period, or by 18 years of age. This bill changes the definition of intellectual disability to mean a disability as defined in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. This bill authorizes a defendant sentenced to the death penalty prior to the date that this bill becomes a law, and whose conviction is final on direct review to petition the trial court for a determination of whether the defendant is intellectually disabled. The motion must set forth a colorable claim that the defendant is ineligible for the death penalty due to intellectual disability. Either party may appeal the trial court's decision in accordance with Rule 3 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure. ON APRIL 26, 2021, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1072, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 redefines "intellectual disability" to mean: (1) Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning; (2) Deficits in adaptive behavior; and (3) The intellectual disability must have manifested during the developmental period, or by 18 years of age. This amendment prohibits a defendant from petitioning for a determination of whether the defendant is intellectually disabled under this bill, if the issue of whether the defendant has an intellectual disability has been previously adjudicated on the merits.