Ricky Chase was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for a robbery murder. According to court documents Ricky Chase and Robert Washington was in the process of robbing a house when the owner came home and would be fatally shot by one of the men. Ricky Chase and Robert Washington were arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Mississippi Death Row Inmate List
Ricky Chase 2021 Information
| Race: BLACK | Sex: MALE | Date of Birth: 02/08/1969 |
| Height: 5′ 10” | Weight: 205 | Complexion: DARK |
| Build: MEDIUM | Eye Color: BROWN | Hair Color: UNKNOWN |
| Entry Date: 03/01/1990 | Location: MSP | UNIT: UNIT 29 |
| Location Change Date: 02/22/2021 | Number of Sentences: 2 | Total Length: DEATH |
Ricky Chase More News
A Mississippi inmate is citing a decision in a Florida case to support arguments that he is mentally disabled and his death sentence should be overturned.
Ricky Chase was convicted and sentenced to death in 1990 for the Aug. 14, 1989, killing of 70-year-old vegetable salesman Elmer Hart in Copiah County.
Authorities said Hart apparently arrived at home as his wife was being robbed by Chase and another man.
Prosecutors said Hart’s wife had been doused with an ammonia-like substance and tied up and gagged. They said she watched helplessly as her husband was shot. Hart’s body was found on a bedroom floor beside his wife.
In the years since his conviction, Chase’s attorneys have argued a pretrial mental examination showed he was mentally incapacitated. Attorney Jim Craig said Chase was examined by two doctors. But court records show one doctor did not find him mentally disabled.
State prosecutors have argued there’s no proof to back up Chase’s claim
In 2013, a Copiah County judge found Chase mentally competent. Chase argues to the Mississippi Supreme Court that the decision was in error. The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on Dec. 8.
Chase, now 45, is arguing in his new appeal that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Florida case precludes his execution.
In May in a Florida case, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited states in borderline cases from relying only on intelligence test scores to determine whether a death row inmate is eligible to be executed.
In a 5-4 decision, the court said that Florida and a handful of other states must look beyond IQ scores when inmates test in the range of 70 to 75. IQ tests have a margin of error, and those inmates whose scores fall within the margin must be allowed to present other evidence of mental disability, the court said.
A score of 70 is widely accepted as a marker of mental disability, but medical professionals say people who score as high as 75 can be considered intellectually disabled because of the test’s margin of error.
Prosecutors said court records showed Chase had an IQ of 71 but Chase’s attorney said under the Florida ruling other factors also must be considered and there has been testimony that Chase struggled with simple tasks such as choosing his own clothes or making macaroni and cheese.
Prosecutors said the Copiah County judge properly found that though Chase had a borderline IQ of 71 there were no significant deficits in adaptive behavior to support a finding of mental retardation. Adaptive behavior refers to the management of routine tasks.