The state House Judiciary Committee this week approved legislation sponsored by Sen.

Mary Jo White, R-21st, that would create a pretrial procedure to determine if a defendant in a capital penalty trial is a person with mental retardation.The Senate approved the measure last year.White has introduced similar bills since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that applying the death penalty to persons with mental retardation is unconstitutional.The court left it up to states to determine how to implement the decision.White's bill would establish a pretrial hearing by a judge to make the assessment."Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002, our commonwealth courts have been waiting for direction from the Legislature on these critical capital punishment questions: How should the courts determine mental retardation, and should it be decided before or after trial?" said White."From the start, I have believed that the common sense approach is to have a pretrial hearing, rather than go through the expense and trauma of a capital trial and then determine it's not a capital case at all."Her bill also would provide a similar procedure for a defendant already sentenced to death with appeals pending.The legislation now goes to the full House for a vote.