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Wilkerson Viii Case Study

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Amendment VIII: Protection Against Unreasonable Bails, Fines and Punishments The eighth amendment protects people in the United States from bails and fines that are excessive and punishments that are cruel and unusual. This means that people who commit criminal acts are not allowed to be punished in an unusually cruel way. This amendment, as a part of the bill of rights was also a law in the British kingdom 102 years earlier than when it was added to the United States constitution and was also introduced in George Mason’s Declaration of Rights that he wrote for the commonwealth of Virginia in 1776, fifteen years before it was added to the constitution. It was undeniable that the eighth amendment needed to be added as a part of someone’s guaranteed …show more content…

Utah, Wilkerson was charged with first degree murder of William Baxter. According to the law and traditions surrounding the death penalty in the late 1800’s, people who are tried and convicted of felony acts as horrible as murder, will be sentenced to death or a life time of hard labor in prison. The killing of the convicted felon, if sentenced to the death penalty, would usually be public and be done by hanging, shooting, or beheading. However, the convicted is allowed to pick, in some cases, the means by which he or she dies in front of the public. This was not the case in Wilkerson v. Utah. Wilkerson pleaded not guilty and after the fair trial went underway, the jury did find him guilty of the pre-meditated murder of William Baxter. Mr. Justice Clifford, delivered the outcome of the trial and what was to happen to Wilkerson now that he was convicted. He told Wilkerson that he was to be shot dead by a firing squad in front of the public on the 14th of December. Wilkerson tried to repeal that decision by making the argument that hanging was the method of carrying out the death penalty during this time. In the territorial statute of Utah, someone who is found guilty of committing murder, “shall suffer death”. It never stated that death should be by hanging but that just seemed to be the common law method that many courts and judges used to punish the guilty murderers who were sentenced to the death penalty. Most were not fired on by a squad of people until they died. It was found that death by firing squad was not considered a cruel and unusual punishment in

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The Supreme Court decided that the actual acted of the death wasn’t unconstitutional “but that the procedures and applications as practices by the States were.” ("Supreme Court Cases.") The original ruling was overturned and William Furman would not be executed. The court in the case explained that only way capital punishment would be eligible is if they could form a uniform policy. Without a uniform policy, the death penalty will be considered as a cruel and unusual punishment.

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Shortly after being arrested, Donald Henry Gaskins was put on trial for eight confirmed murders. The trial did not last long after the prosecutors told Gaskins to plead guilty so the families would not have to suffer through a long trial. Gaskins eventually agreed and was sentenced to death on May 24, 1976, just short of a month after being arrested (Margaritoff). In November of 1976, the Supreme Court ruled South Carolina’s death penalty unconstitutional and his sentence was commuted to life. This would only last two years before the death penalty would be

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David Oshinksy’s most recent book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, focuses on the extremely controversial yet important issue of capital punishment in the United States. Oshinsky’s text covers the debated topic in a scholarly yet concise way. With the text being a mere 125 pages, he covers the prolonged, contentious history of the death penalty. At the beginning of the book, Oshinsky describes what occurred in the early hours of August 11, 1967. William Micke was suddenly murdered in the hallway of his house by William Henry Furman, a disabled, illiterate 24 year old who had a troubled past with law enforcement.

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The Supreme Court came back with a decision six months later with a 5-4 decision. This meant that 5 judges were for the death penalty and 4 were against. Justices Douglass, Brennan, Stewart, White and Marshal all concurred that executing Furman was wrong. Justices Burger, Blackmun, Powell, and Rehnquist all voted that the execution was the correct action to take against Furman. The court’s decision was that giving Furman the death penalty was cruel and unusual and in clear violation of the constitution.

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he death penalty deters criminals and makes them think twice. This would happen because if they do something really horrible they won’t do it the first place. According to “Death Penalty Focus : Innocent and Condemned to Die: The Story of Greg Wilhoit” “A second trial was held in 1993, but after the prosecution presented their case (without the bite mark evidence) the judge issued a directed verdict of innocence and Greg was cleared of all charges.(Condemned 2016)This means that the trial had second thoughts that helped Greg win the trial. The article “Capital Punishment” claims that “ President Bill Clinton signs the Violent crime control and Law enforcement act that expands the federal death penalty to 60 crimes including 3 that don’t involve

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