The following opinion was released by the Louisiana Supreme Court on September 9, 2008:

• Louisiana v. Anderson (Johnson, J.). Affirming conviction for first degree murder and sentence of death. The Supreme Court held that the statutory definition of mental retardation for purposes of an Atkins claim, which definition requires onset by age eighteen, was not unconstitutional on Equal Protection grounds; that there was sufficient evidence to support a finding that the defendant was not mentally retarded; that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining the defendant competent to stand trial; that the district court did not commit Witherspoon or Batson errors; that the district court’s limiting instruction cured any constitutional infirmity in use of the heinousness aggravating factor during sentencing; that the use as an aggravating factor in capital sentencing the age of the victim (over 65) was not unconstitutional; that the victim-impact testimony at trial was not improper; that the district court did not err in sustaining the objection to questioning of the victim’s daughter as to how execution of the defendant would impact the defendant’s family; and that there was no Ring error in the Louisiana capital sentencing scheme where the predicate factors are required to be found beyond a reasonable doubt, though the ultimate decision of death is not required to be arrived at beyond a reasonable doubt.