Police Officer Murder Death Penalty Scenario
The case of 20-year-old Jesse James, who was recently arrested for the alleged murder of a police officer, is one which is sure to arouse the public's sense of righteous indignation, with friends, family and fellow cops demanding that James be tried, convicted and executed for his crimes. As a newly elected prosecutor charged with the unenviable task of handling this contentious case, it is important to remember the importance of statutory guidelines and legislative precedence as the case proceeds, because any errors will likely result in James utilizing the expansive appeals process to delay, and possibly overturn, a decision to impose the death penalty. Automatic appeals lodged in the Court of Criminal Appeals, direct appeals to the Supreme Court, Habeas Corpus reviews on the state and federal levels, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and petitions for Executive Clemency are all avenues which are open to anybody sentenced to death, so it is essential that the prosecution's case be predicated on both case law and the Constitution.
An examination of death penalty sentencing procedures within the American criminal capital punishment, "the issue of arbitrariness of the death penalty was brought before the Supreme Court in 1972 in Furman v. Georgia, Jackson v. Georgia, and Branch v. Texas (known collectively as the landmark case Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238))" (DPIC, 2013). While the court previously ruled in Crampton v. Ohio and McGautha v. California that the application of capital punishment did not result in arbitrary and capricious sentencing, the 1972 Furman case challenged the Eight Amendment, whereas the McGautha case cited the Fourteenth Amendment's due process provision.
The choice to attack the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment, while preserving the original arbitrary and capricious sentencing argument, proved to be critical, as the court ruled in a hotly contested 5-4 opinion that that a punishment "would be 'cruel and unusual' if it…
