Cited: Walker, Thomas G. Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2008. Print.
Cited: Walker, Thomas G. Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2008. Print.
This case set forth the precedent that juries, not the judge, will have the ability to exercise their discretion when deciding aggravating factors which could lead to the enforcement of the death…
McCleskey was convicted of murder, by the jury. In the state of Georgia the jury is not allowed to impose, or consider imposing the death penalty unless it is found beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was accompanied by statutory aggravating circumstances. The jury in this case found two aggravating circumstances to exist. They found that the murder was committed during an armed robbery, and that the murder was committed against a peace officer while he was doing his duties. The court agreed with the jury and sentenced McCleskey to death. McCleskey, on many attempts had failed to achieve relief from the Supreme Courts of Georgia on appeals, his writ of certiorari, and a motion for a new trial. This lead McCleskey to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. One of the claims was that the Georgia capital sentencing process is administered in a racially discriminatory manner which violates the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments. In order to support this claim, McCleskey used a statistical study to prove that black defendants who kill white victims are more likely to receive the death sentence in the state.…
This case in Fenton, Missouri involves 17 yrs. old Christopher Simmons born in 1993. Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer were Christopher Simmons friends and accomplices. Christopher Simmons planned and committed a capital murder along with Charles Benjamin. The plan was to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up Shirley Crook, and tossing her off a bridge. The three boys met at 2am in the morning however, Tessmer then dropped out of the plan. Simmons and Benjamin broke into Mrs. Crook's home, bound her hands and covered her eyes. They put Mrs. Crook in a minivan drove her to a state park and threw her off a bridge. Once the case was brought to trial court, the evidence was solid and overwhelming. Simmons had confessed to the murder, performed a videotaped reenactment at the crime scene, and there was testimony from John Tessmer against him that showed premeditation. After the crime Christopher discussed the plot in advance and later bragged about the crime. After 2 hours of investigation Christopher broke down and confessed. At trial the State introduced Simmons confession and the videotaped reenactment of the crime, along with testimony that Simmons discussed the crime in advance and him bragging to fellow classmates about it later. The defense called no witnesses due to the evidence and confession. The jury having returned a verdict of murder, the trial proceeded to the penalty phase. The jury returned a guilty verdict. The jury recommended a death sentence in which the trial court imposed despite Christopher not having a criminal background. The State charged Simmons with burglary, kidnaping, stealing, and murder in the first degree. Simmons was 17 at the time of the crime. He was outside the criminal jurisdiction of Missouri’s juvenile court system. Charles Benjamin and was…
My view upon death penalty before watching the video about Darryl hunt’s case, was strongly against it. I truly believe that we have no say in who is to take someone’s life. Who are we to decide who lives or dies? There is no standard that we can place on someone’s life, to determine their existence in this world. Life is a precious gift, no matter how cruel the crime may be that the person being accused of committing the crime. I strongly believe that incarceration for the reminder of their life is in my view, the most extreme decision as a society to make in determining an individuals future.…
In the American justice system there are many rules and procedures set in place to assure that a person charged in a crime has an opportunity to receive a fair trial. Most people are familiar with the rights of those accused for example the due process rights like the right to a speedy trial, right to remain silent and not having to testify in a trial where they could incriminate themselves without it , impacting the trial’s verdict , the right to have attorney if not able to pay for one the court will provide a public defender and the right to have your case heard and tried in front of a jury that is questioned and selected by your attorney as well as the opposing counsel. While observing a televised court hearing in the process of jury selection a thought occurred to me that although a jury hears and is instructed during a Death Penalty case to weigh aggravating factor against mitigating circumstances. Even though instructions are given it struck me that most people do not know the true definition of these two terms, if I having basic knowledge of these terms get frustrated with the explanation of definition, then how does an average juror with no background in law or criminal justice understand these terms . So I decided to full study the true meaning of these factors.…
Daryl Atkins was born in a small town called Hampton, Virginia. He was the oldest of many siblings and they all seemed to look up to their big brother. Unfortunately, by the time Daryl was seven years old his parents got a divorce. This paid a toll on the family financially. When Daryl’s father left, his mother picked up a second job to be the breadwinner of her large family.…
Hansen, M. (1993). Death penalty system in turmoil. ABA Journal, 79, 32-32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/194351577?accountid=34544…
A Jury found Troy Gregg guilty of committing an armed robbery and murder. In accordance with Georgia law, the trial was in two stages, a guilt stage, and a sentencing stage. At the guilt stage of Georgia's bifurcated procedure, the jury found the petitioner guilty of two accounts armed robbery and murder. At the penalty stage, the judge instructed the jury that it could recommend either a death sentence or a life prison sentence on each count and the jury returned the verdict of death. Challenging his death sentence, Gregg claimed that his capital sentence was "cruel and unusual" punishment, violating the 8th and 14th amendment.…
The Eighth Amendment: It prohibits excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment. In the case of Atkins v. Virginia, the facts brought to the court was that the defendant, Daryl Atkins was tried for capital murder and sentenced to death for the shooting of a victim named Eric Nesbitt. Atkins had been smoking and drinking all day before he decided to walk to a convenient store and hold Nesbitt at gun point, upon Daryl’s dissatisfaction with the money he took, he kidnaped Nesbitt, taking him to an ATM to with drawl 200 dollars, along with a friend named William Jones, in Nesbitt’s car. When Daryl was satisfied with the money taken, he further continued his violence by driving Nesbitt to an isolated area, forcing him out of the vehicle, and then shot Nesbitt eight times killing him.…
Similar cases to the Hall v. Florida case include Atkins v. Virginia, Penry v. Lynaugh, and Hitchcock v. Dugger. In the Atkins v. Virginia case Deryl Atkins confessed to the murder of Eric Nesbitt. Atkins was tried and found guilty, and was placed on Death Row. However, a series of IQ tests deemed him mentally retarded, with an IQ of 59. His Death Row sentence was appealed, because it violated the 8th amendment of cruel and unusual punishment. Because of his low IQ score, despite the fact that he was considered fairly intelligent, his could not be sentenced to death. This idea is the same within the Hall v. Florida case. Many states such as Georgia followed this idea that sentencing mentally challenged criminals to death is unconstitutional. In the Penry v. Lynaugh case, Penry was tried, convicted and placed on death row. The court in Texas did not consider his mental retardation a mitigating factor in sentencing him to Death Row. When he was tried for a second time, he was again placed on Death Row. Eventually the Atkins v. Virginia case caused the court to end his death sentence, after proving his sentence a violation of the 8th Amendment. Lastly, in the Hitchcock v. Dugger case, the Supreme Court upheld that the 8th Amendment is in fact constitutional. It was a 9-0 decision to have Hitchcock placed on Death Row, and that all mitigating factors should be considered instead of solely the relevant statutes.…
Although he uses many examples to expose Capital Punishment’s unethicality, this critique focuses on three; discriminatory sentencing, barbaric application, and the irrevocability of a death sentence. Bedau reasons that one of the motives of the Supreme Court’s ruling that the death penalty was unconstitutional in Furman was due to apparent racial discrimination. Between 1930 and 1976, 455 men were executed for rape. Of those executed, 405 were African American. That is a nearly 90 percent of the executions that took place. As America has become more tolerant, many claim that racial discrimination in death penalty cases is outdated. Bedau thinks it strange then how more than fifty percent of inmates sitting on death row are African American. In addition, Bedau claims that “the application of the death penalty is inhumane.”(Bedau) Hanging, firing squad, electrocution, and gassing are still options available to state executioners when executing an inmate. In recent years, lethal injection has been the method most commonly used in the majority of executions because it is deemed to be painless. However, there is no evidence of this being the case and there have been many instances where injections were botched by breaches in protocol. Bedau lists as most disturbing is the fact that death penalty cases are irrevocable. There have been cases where evidence has emerged, exonerating an inmate…
Because the jury issues but a mere advisory opinion and not binding upon the court, Florida’s sentencing scheme must be unconstitutional. Florida’s statute requires that a court imposing the death sentence must make a written, detailed finding. This detailed account—not the jury’s verdict—that furnishes the basis for the Supreme Court of Florida’s review. Respondent’s rely on Hildwin (1989 case that permits the judge to find aggravating circumstances that authorize the death sentence) because it has not been expressly overruled. The ideas and principles in Hildwin were thrown out with Walton, clarified in Ring, and expressly overrule today.…
The last stage of a criminal trial is known as sentencing. During sentencing the convening authority over the criminal court proceedings makes a determination of how the guilty party should be punished. Prior to that determination being made both the defense attorneys and prosecutors may make their arguments as to why or why not the defendant should be punished to the fullest of the law. The judge taking these arguments into consideration makes his or her decision on what type sentence to hand down. While the main goal is to punish those that are found guilty there are five sentencing rationales in use in the American criminal justice system. These rationales are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, restoration, and incapacitation. In the case of State v. Stu Dents, the judge will use the rationales of rehabilitation and incapacitation. The defense and prosecutors will make their arguments and propose the type of sentence Mr. Dents should receive which in turn will protect him and society.…
With reference to your article, three studies that have attempted to empirically assess the concepts of “suitably directed” and “minimization of risk” are John Donohue’s 1973-2007 study of capital sentencing in Connecticut, David McCord’s study using the “depravity point calculator,” and David Baldus’s split study in 1973 and 1979 on the examination of the influence of race on death penalty decisions in Georgia. According to your article, Donohue’s study identified 205 potentially death eligible murders in the state. Donohue coded and calculated for factors that might have “influenced jurors, such as the victim’s suffering, the defendant’s motive, the number of victims, and mitigating factors, such as mental illness or impairment.” The results…
ProCon.Org. (2009, January 1). Should the death penalty be used for retribution? Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://deathpenatly.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001004: http://deathpenatly.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001004…