Supreme Court blocks state from executing inmate with borderline intellectual disability

The issue in Smith’s case is what happens when a person has multiple IQ scores that are slightly above 70 - (Getty)

A divided US Supreme Court has dismissed Alabama's bid to execute a convicted murderer, Joseph Clifton Smith, who lower courts had found to be intellectually disabled.

Smith beat his victim, Durk Van Dam, to death with a hammer and a saw to steal his boots, tools and $140. Van Dam’s body was found in his truck in an isolated wooded area.