Furman v. Georgia

William Micke was at home with his wife and five kids, sleeping. Soon after, he heard a noise and went to check it out. There he found 29 year-old, William Furman. Furman was attempting to burglarizing the Micke home, but was caught. As he tried to flee, the gun that he had been carrying on him went off and shot Mr. Micke in the chest; leading to his death which occurred instantly. He got away from the scene, but was discovered by police soon after still with the gun in his possession.

Furman was taken into custody and charged with murder. His trial took place soon after and since Furman was poor he got a poor trial. He claimed that the death of Micke was an accident and the gun should have never went off; he was simply robbing the place. The gun went off as he tripped. The trial lasted only a day, and ending with him getting sentenced to death. Furman was ruled as mentally ill and the evidence showed the accident, but he had no leeway.

Furman's case was given a new attorney to help defend him. Furman appealed his case because of cruel and unusual punishment. This case violated his Eight Amendment rights because the case had many flaws against Furman's race, his case was random, and it was unfair because of the condition him and his life was in. If he was educated and white, his chances of not going to the death penalty would have been higher. Also, there have been studies that show random cases go to the death penalty, because there were similar cases to Furman's that only received prison.

Furman was still sentenced to death. His appeal did not succeed in saving his life because of the courts unfairness. His case was the first one that violated the Constitutional Rights. Many years later, the Supreme Court voted and ruled the reverse of his case; that his sentencing to death was cruel and unusual punishment.



Furman v. Georgia." Supreme Court Drama. Ed. Elizabeth M. Shaw. UXL-Thomson Gale, 2001. eNotes.com. 2006. 12 Apr, 2011 furman-v-georgia

Furman v. georgia. (2011). Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/12834/Furman-v-Georgia.html

Major death penalty cases in the us supreme court. (2008, October 6). Retrieved from http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001769