Pulley v. Harris

Pulley v. Harris
Argued November 7, 1983
Decided January 23, 1984
Full case name Pulley v. Harris
Citations 465 U.S. 37 (more)
104 S. Ct. 871; 79 L. Ed. 2d 29; 1984 U.S. LEXIS 3
Prior history vacating death sentence, 692 F.2d 1189, (9th Cir. 1982).
Holding
The Eighth Amendment does not require, as an invariable rule in every case, that a state appellate court, before it affirms a death sentence, compare the sentence in the case before it with the penalties imposed in similar cases if requested to do so by the prisoner.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority White, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor; Stevens (except Part III)
Concurrence Stevens
Dissent Brennan, joined by Marshall
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. VIII

Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37 (1984), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that there the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not require, as an invariable rule in every case, that a state appellate court, before it affirms a death sentence, proportionally compare the sentence in the case before it with the penalties imposed in similar cases if requested to do so by the prisoner.[1]

The prisoner in the case, Robert Alton Harris, was ultimately executed in April 1992, after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit several more times in the matter, including after Harris had been strapped into the gas chamber.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mayell, Manvin S. (Autumn 1984). "Eighth Amendment. Proportionality Review of Death Sentences Not Required". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-). 75 (3): 839. doi:10.2307/1143646.
  2. ↑ Caminker, Evan; Chemerinsky, Erwin (October 1992). "The Lawless Execution of Robert Alton Harris". Yale Law Journal. 102 (1): 225. doi:10.2307/796775. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
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