Late last month, we published a list of Supreme Court precedent over at JD Supra, in a .pdf format (Terry Lenamon’s List of Major United States Supreme Court Death Penalty Cases:Furman v. Georgia (1972) to Harbison v. Bell (2009)).
Suddenly, over at Twitter, my fellow Tweeters @Joachim65 (aka Joachim Kubler of Germany, blogging at Todesstrafe USA (use GoogleTranslate!)) and @TheOptimistClub (founded by Kathy Brown, blogging at The Optimist Club) had already found the list, and were spreading the word in the Twitter Universe. @OdellaWilson was giving @TerryLenamon praise (wow) and things were getting Retweeted ... which was all very amazing and complimentary and wonderful.
So, looks like this list may be helpful, right? Good! Here it is again, placed here in the blog, where it's searchable and NOT in a .pdf format, however helpful that might be. For instance, the links to the full opinions show up in the .pdf format, but maybe they are easier to use in the blog site (maybe?).
For a full search on all things death penalty by the U.S. Supreme Court (or any other topic, for that matter), Cornell University provides a great search tool with its online library. Cases are even divided into majority opinion vs dissents, etc. Very handy.
Now, here's the list. Caveat: it's not every case where the High Court deals with capital punishment, nor is it the only list that deals with US Supreme Court cases on the death penalty. What is hopefully helpful here is that this list: (1) culls out the overturned cases and (2) provides the links to the full opinions so you can jump there to read the case itself.
Terry Lenamon’s List of Major United States Supreme Court Death Penalty Cases:Furman v. Georgia (1972) to Harbison v. Bell (2009)
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court effectively halted the death penalty in this country with its opinion in Furman v. Georgia. However, the moratorium was short-lived and four years later, the government was again free to kill its citizens as punishment for certain crimes.
For easy reference, here are the major High Court’s decisions dealing with the death penalty from Furman forward (excluding those that have been overruled by later precedent), hyperlinked to the full opinion:
1972
Furman v. Georgia
Requires consistency in execution, i.e., consistency in the states’ application of death.
1976
Gregg v. Georgia
Reaffirmed use of the death penalty after the states had passed legislation that met the Furman requirements.
1977
Coker v. Georgia
Under 8th Amendment, death penalty is not acceptable (i.e., constitutional) punishment for crime of rape of an adult woman when murder not involved, i.e., the victim is not killed. Effectively set the standard that capital punishment should only be imposed when the underlying crime involved the death of another.
1978
Lockett v. Ohio
Sentencing authorities cannot be limited to a list of factors when deciding on imposing capital punishment; constitutionally, they are to have the ability to consider all mitigating factors.
1982
Enmund v. Florida
No death penalty for someone who does participate in a felony but not involved in killing – no intent to kill, no attempt (successful or not) to do so.
1985
Glass v. Louisiana
Death penalty by electric chair (electrocution) is constitutionally acceptable.
1986
Ford v. Wainwright
No death penalty for insane persons.
1987
Tison v. Arizona
Death penalty acceptable for defendant convicted of felony murder, who was a major participant and who shows an “extreme indifference to human life.”
1988
Lowenfield v. Phelps
State’s determination of which individuals are eligible for the death penalty can be done by statute (legislature decision) or by findings of aggravating circumstances (courtroom decision).
1988
Thompson v. Oklahoma
No Death Penalty for children who are 15 years old or younger at the time that the crime is committed.
1992
Morgan v. Illinois
In jury selection, the defense can challenge for cause anyone in the jury pool who says they would vote for death penalty in every case.
2002
Ring v. Arizona
Death Penalty cannot be imposed unless there is a jury (not judge) determination of the necessary aggravating factors because this is a part of the defendant’s constitutional right to a jury trial. (In 2004, Schriro v. Summerlin refused to apply this retroactively.)
2002
Atkins v. Virginia
No Death Penalty of mentally retarded defendants.
2004
Tennard v. Dretke
In capital punishment case, all mitigating factors must be considered in both the guilt phase and the penalty (sentencing) phase.
2005
Roper v. Simmons
No death penalty for anyone who was under 18 years old when the crime was committed, i.e., juvenile offenders.
2006
Oregon v. Guzek
It is constitutional for a judge to limit the sentencing phase evidence of a defendant’s innocence to that which was presented in the trial phase.
2006
Kansas v. Marsh
Death penalty can be imposed even though both mitigating and aggravating factors exist.
2006
House v. Bell
On appeal, post-conviction DNA forensic evidence can be presented in death penalty cases.
2008
Baze v. Rees
Lethal injection (three drug) method acceptable form of execution.
2008
Kennedy v. Louisiana
No death penalty for any crime "where the victim's life was not taken."
2009
Harbison v. Bell
When the state refuses to provide habeas counsel in post-conviction clemency proceedings, the constitutional right to counsel mandates that federally-funded legal counsel be provided to indigent death row inmates.
