Furman v. Georgia - Significance, Furman Sentenced To Death, Court Severely Restricts Death Penalty, Jackson And Branch, Related Cases

Furman v. Georgia - Further Readings

Furman v. Georgia - Significance

Although Furman v. Georgia did not completely abolish the death penalty, it placed stringent requirements on death penalty statutes. On the night of 11 August 1967, 29-year-old William Joseph Micke, Jr. came home from work to his wife and five children in the city of Savannah, Georgia. He went to bed around midnight. Two hours later, the Mickes were awakened by strange noises in the kitchen. Think…

Furman v. Georgia - Furman Sentenced To Death

Under Georgia law, Furman faced the death penalty. This was despite the fact that Furman had testified that his shooting of Micke was accidental: I admit going to these folks' home and they did caught me in there and I was coming back out, backing up and there was a wire down there on the floor. I was coming out backwards and fell back and I didn't intend to kill nobody . . . The gun went off and …

Furman v. Georgia - Court Severely Restricts Death Penalty

Douglas reviewed the history of capital punishment under the English common law, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 through the American colonial period and up to the ratification of the Constitution. He noted that English law had evolved to consider the death penalty unfair when applied selectively to minorities, outcasts and unpopular groups. In America, the Court had already held that discriminat…

Furman v. Georgia - Jackson And Branch

In the two cases decided with Furman, Jackson v. Georgia and Branch v. Texas, the petitioners Jackson and Branch were both convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Jackson, an African American male who had escaped from a work gang, entered a woman's home and committed a rape and robbery of that woman. At trial, a psychiatrist testified that Jackson was not schizophrenic and was competent to stand…

Furman v. Georgia - Related Cases

Furman v. Georgia - First- And Second-degree Murder

In 1794, Pennsylvania became the first state to establish a legal distinction between first-degree murder--that is, "willful, deliberate, or premeditated killing"--and a second degree of murder charges, in which the defendant was judged to be less culpable due to a lesser intent or other mitigating circumstances. Since that time, other states have adopted their own standards of first-degree (or ca…