Mr. Beat presents Supreme Court Briefs
Texas and Georgia The 1960s
Texas sentences one man to death and Georgia
sentences two men to death for crimes involving rape and murder.
The Texas defendant, Elmer Branch, who later was found to have low intelligence, broke into
the home of a 65-year old widow and raped her, holding his arm against her throat. As he left,
Branch told the widow if she told anyone what had happened, he would come back and kill her.
The first Georgia defendant, Petr (Peter or it could be Petra I suppose) Jackson,
a 21-year old, broke into a home and held up scissors to a woman’s neck,
demanding money. After she found no money to give him, he raped her.
The second Georgia defendant, Henry Furman, a 26-year old with multiple mental illnesses,
attempted to break into a home, and after he couldn’t get in, shot through a closed door,
killing one person inside. He later claimed that his gun accidentally misfired.
So all three men awaited the death penalty. However, their lawyers argued that they didn’t
deserve the death penalty for their crimes and appealed their cases. But, the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals and Supreme Court of Georgia both upheld the death sentences of all three men.
That said, the three cases did catch the attention of the Supreme Court,
who combined them into one to see if they went against the Eighth Amendment
of the Constitution. In particular, the clause that said there shall be no
“cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Well what the heck did that really mean? The
Court heard oral arguments for the cases on January 17, 1972. The big question was “Did
sentencing these three men to death go against both the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?”
The Court said yes, although it was a close one. In a 5-4 decision, the Court announced on June 29,
1972 that the death penalty in the cases of these three men was indeed cruel and unusual punishment
and therefore went against the Constitution. That said, the five who said it went against
the Constitution couldn’t agree on exactly why. Basically, three of the justices, Potter Stewart,
Byron White, and William Douglas expressed concern with the apparent randomness with how the death
sentences were carried out, and called out how there was probably racial bias going on since
the three men were African American and the victims were white. The other two justices,
William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, believed the death penalty was unconstitutional under any
circumstances. Marshall wrote, “No matter how careful courts are, the possibility of perjured
testimony, mistaken honest testimony and human error remain too real. We have no way of judging
how many innocent persons have been executed, but we can be certain that there were some.”
The four justices who dissented basically said the federal government would ultimately have a
really difficult time classifying one punishment as cruel and unusual while permitting another. It
could get too complicated really quickly. Regardless, this case, known as Furman v.
Georgia, effectively placed a temporary ban on all future executions in the country until more
guidance came from another court challenge. All of a sudden, 630 people on death row, were...uh...not
on death row anymore. Instead, they now faced the rest of their lives in prison. In the mean time,
35 states wrote new death penalty laws to try to satisfy the Supreme Court’s suggestions.
Five of those new death penalty laws
are what ultimately got the Supreme Court back in the game on the issue.
On November 21, 1973, a dude named Troy Gregg and his friend, Floyd Allen,
were hitchhiking in Florida. Two men, named Fred Simmons and Bob Moore, picked them up and drove
them up to Atlanta, Georgia. Aw, that was really nice of them. But Gregg murdered them anyway in
an attempt to rob them. Later, Georgia charged him with first-degree murder and armed robbery. Now,
Georgia was one of those states that had passed a new law after the Furman decision. While Gregg was
found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery, there was still confusion about his
sentencing. He actually got two trials- one to determine guilt and one for sentencing.
At the second trial, the jury found the death penalty acceptable since they didn’t think it
went against the Eighth Amendment. Basically, it was more clear cut that Gregg deserved it.
Well Gregg didn’t think he deserved it, and appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court,
but it agreed with the lower court, so he appealed again to the United States Supreme Court,
who agreed to hear oral arguments on March 30 and 31, 1976. The Court decided to combine
this case with four other cases since similar laws were passed in Florida,
Texas, North Carolina, and Louisiana after the Furman decision as well. Together,
these cases became known as “The Death Penalty Cases.” The Court found themselves once again
attempting to answer the same basic question. “Was the death sentence ok in these five cases,
or did it go against both the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?”
This time, the Court said “no.” On July 2, 1976, almost exactly four years after the
Furman decision, they announced they had sided with Georgia and the other states. Basically,
they said the death penalty didn’t go against the Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment
under ALL circumstances. In some extreme criminal cases,
like when someone deliberately kills someone else, the death penalty may be ok if there’s
good judgement that’s carefully carried out and stuff. It’s worth stressing that eight
of the nine justices this time were there for the Furman decision, yet this time it was 7-2,
more definitive. The only two who dissented were the two I mentioned before, Brennan and Marshall,
remember who believed the death penalty was unconstitutional under ANY circumstances.
The Court established two broad guidelines that state legislatures had to follow to
make sure they didn’t pass sentencing laws that went against the Eighth Amendment:
They had to provide objective criteria in order to limit how many death sentences are carried out
They had to allow the judge or jury to take into account both the character
and record of an individual defendant In establishing those two guidelines,
the Court hoped to also resolve the issues of the cases in the Furman decision.
Regardless, Gregg v. Georgia once again said that the death penalty was ok in the United States.
However, the death penalty has been controversial ever since. Executions resumed in 1977,
and since then, more than 7,800 defendants have been sentenced to death, and of those
more than 1,500 have been executed. Currently, more than 2,500 convicts are on death row.
Speaking of which, Tony Gregg was sentenced to death. However, on July 28,
1980, while on death row, Gregg escaped the Georgia State Prison with three other
condemned murderers. It was the first and only death row breakout in Georgia history,
and they did it by changing their prison clothing to look like prison guards. However,
Gregg was murdered later that night at a biker bar and his body was dumped in a river.
I’ll see you for the next Supreme Court case, jury!
So what is YOUR opinion on the death penalty? Let me know in the comments below. Also,
I chose these cases based on feedback from my Patreon supporters and you,
so I’m always open to other Supreme Court case suggestions ya got. Let me know which case you’d
like me to cover next. Next Friday is the release of a video I’m really excited about.
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