Furman v. Georgia

The death sentence is not a per se violation of the Constitution as it has deep historical roots and is supported by contemporary societal standards, evidenced by the 35 state legislators that reenacted capital punishment statutes after

Furman v. Georgia.

And the rule of law that you will need to know is the death penalty for the crime of murder is not in of itself a cruel and unusual punishment that violates the 8th and 14th Amendments.

A capital sentencing statute can be constitutional if it provides clear objective standards to guide the sentencing authority's discretion, includes a bifurcated trial, and guarantees automatic appellate review of the sentence's proportionality.

And Texas started carrying them out again in 1982.

Before that, capital punishment had been stalled around the country for four years with the 1972 ruling in Furman v. Georgia.

They held capital punishment laws violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

To put this into context, the state that comes closest to Texas when it comes to carrying out executions is the state of Florida, and they are way behind us with 142 executions, though it appears they are trying their best to catch up.

The Chair and the Gas Chamber 1982-1999 Nobody was executed in the United States for nearly ten years before Utah put Gary Gilmore in front of a firing squad in January 1977.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court had struck down the death penalty laws as the states were applying them.

And in 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, it let the rewritten laws stand.

Most of the states that wanted to start again went back to the chairs and gas chambers they already had.

Then the law changed.

In 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia, effectively invalidating the death penalty statutes then being used across the country.

Existing death sentences could no longer simply be carried out under those laws.

McDuff was among the Texas prisoners whose sentences were converted to life imprisonment.

Because there are nine people on the Supreme Court, and every single one of them wrote his own opinion in this case.

So there are nine different opinions in Furman v. Georgia.

Wow.

That's not, that's not, like-

Scumbag.Uh, yeah, yeah.

Um, a- a- and I was really interested to dig back into Furman v. Georgia in 1972.

It was a five to four ruling in which the liberal Supreme Court at that time utterly invented laws.

I mean, just they...

I'm, I, at this point, I think against the death penalty, but I'm not revolted by it.

That's interesting that you're revolted by it.

So one of the offshoots of the Furman v. Georgia thing was that the states wanted to make absolutely sure that what they were doing didn't look cruel.

Doesn't look cruel.

And that's only happened recently.

The Supreme Court banned any executions between 1972 and 1976 with Furman v. Georgia.

And then it was reinstated, the ability to do the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, but with limitations saying you need to bifurcate the trial, you need a separate trial on the penalty and building in more protections for the accused.

You know, notwithstanding, you're an incredible lawyer, you know, and I know some very, very good attorneys, many after this many years in the business.