Application of the Furman and Gregg decisions

Application of the Furman and Gregg decisions

Introduction

Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) is a decision of the of US supreme court that led to the ruling of the requirement for a degree of consistency in the death penalty application. It led to the 'de facto' moratorium on capital penalties in the United States. This decision stayed effective till the Gregg v. Georgia case in 1976.

Background

In the case of Furman v. Georgia, the person who was murdered awoke during the night to find a burglar in his house. The burglar was William Henry Furman. Furman tried to escape and in the procedure he shot the victim who died on the spot. During an unsworn trial, Furman stated that he tripped and accidentally fired the weapon while trying to escape. This contradicted the statement that he had given earlier to the police, where he said that he turned and without looking, fired a shot while fleeing from the scene of the crime. According to the law prevalent at that time, Furman would have been charged guilty for the murder and given the death sentence (felony murder rule). Furman was tried, found guilty and sentenced to death but the punishment was never executed.

The convict pleaded to the court to reconsider the case and argued that the death penalty in such a situation violated the Constitution. The appeal received a 5-4 decision and the Court held that imposing of the death sentence in such cases could be deemed as cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall were the two judges who insisted that the death penalty should be unconstitutional in all cases. Chief Justice Burger, Justice Harry Blackmun, Justice Powell and Justice Rehnquist dissented in the case. They suggested that the death penalty had always ...