                 TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
 
                       PART II--CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
 
                       CHAPTER 228--DEATH SENTENCE
 
Sec. 3596. Implementation of a sentence of death

    (a) In General.--A person who has been sentenced to death pursuant 
to this chapter shall be committed to the custody of the Attorney 
General until exhaustion of the procedures for appeal of the judgment of 
conviction and for review of the sentence. When the sentence is to be 
implemented, the Attorney General shall release the person sentenced to 
death to the custody of a United States marshal, who shall supervise 
implementation of the sentence in the manner prescribed by the law of 
the State in which the sentence is imposed. If the law of the State does 
not provide for implementation of a sentence of death, the court shall 
designate another State, the law of which does provide for the 
implementation of a sentence of death, and the sentence shall be 
implemented in the latter State in the manner prescribed by such law.
    (b) Pregnant Woman.--A sentence of death shall not be carried out 
upon a woman while she is pregnant.
    (c) Mental Capacity.--A sentence of death shall not be carried out 
upon a person who is mentally retarded. A sentence of death shall not be 
carried out upon a person who, as a result of mental disability, lacks 
the mental capacity to understand the death penalty and why it was 
imposed on that person.

(Added Pub. L. 103-322, title VI, Sec. 60002(a), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 
Stat. 1967.)
