US court considers death penalty

The United States Supreme Court has decided to consider whether the execution of mentally retarded people violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

As the debate on capital punishment gains pace in the United States, the court agreed to hear an appeal by a convicted murderer, Ernest McCarver, facing execution in North Carolina.

His lawyers say that he is mentally retarded.

Prosecutors deny this; they say that even if he is retarded, the death sentence would not violate the constitution.

Thirteen states in the US prohibit execution of the mentally retarded; another twelve have no death penalty at all.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service