Who says the Americans don’t do irony?

Let us pose the case of someone too retarded to be executed, but whose IQ increases due to years of litigation: "Mr Atkins, ah got some good noooos, an I got some baaaad news..."

YORKTOWN, Va., Feb. 3 - Three years ago, in the case of a Virginia man named Daryl R. Atkins, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. But Mr. Atkins's recent test scores could eliminate him from that group.
His scores have shot up, a defense expert said, thanks to the mental workout his participation in years of litigation gave him.
The Supreme Court, which did not decide whether Mr. Atkins was retarded, noted that he scored 59 on an I.Q. test in 1998. The cutoff for retardation in Virginia is 70.
A defense expert who retested Mr. Atkins last year found that his I.Q. was 74. In court here on Thursday, prosecutors said their expert's latest test yielded 76.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/national/06atkins.html?th