COLUMBIA--The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Tuesday banning executions of the mentally retarded.

The bill would require a pretrial hearing to determine mental capacity if the state filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty. The defendant would have to inform the state 30 days before the trial if he intended to raise the issue of mental retardation, said Rep. Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, the bill's sponsor.

The court would then hear expert testimony and consider evidence of mental retardation.

If the defendant were mentally retarded, it would be declared a non-death penalty case, and a convicted defendant would be sentenced to life in prison or at least 30 years, according to the bill.

If not found mentally retarded and a jury convicted, lawyers could still present evidence to the jury on whether the defendant had mental retardation.

The jury would then be asked to render a special verdict, answering whether they found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not mentally retarded.

If the jury determined the defendant was mentally retarded, the sentence would be a minimum of 30 years.

Observers say the bill could affect at least 10 of the 71 inmates on South Carolina's death row.

Defense lawyer John Blume said the bill, if enacted, "would be clearly constitutional."

"This seems like it would be a wise course," Blume said.

"The advantage is they don't run the risk in a few years of the Supreme Court striking it down."