What is a petition for writ of habeus corpus - Essay Example

Furman v. Georgia had come into limelight for its appeal in Supreme Court for death penalty which was cruel and unusual punishment under Eighth Amendment of American constitution. The suit was filed by William Furman against the State of Georgia for conviction and sentence of death penalty (Herda, 1994). Furman had accidentally killed William Joseph Jr. Georgia Central Hospital had also declared him to be mentally ill and psychotic. In one day’s trial, the Jury, comprising of White judges, rejected his plea of insanity and gave him death penalty.

Furman appealed his death sentence as cruel and unusual under Eighth Amendment in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also declared that Georgia’s death penalty was not constitutional. The huge publicity to the case helped eminent lawyers like Amsterdam to fight the case of Furman, who was poor and most importantly, black. Amsterdam was able to show that the judgment was biased and heavily discriminated because the defendant was not only poor but also black. He argued that the jury did not have any guidance regarding the death sentence and the verdict was random mainly based on the discriminatory practices of the individuals.

Amsterdam said that jury often just listens to the evidence of guilt and decides if the defendant deserves to die. The same cases often have the same conviction. Most of the sentences of death penalty are of those who are black, poor, mentally ill or uneducated. The wealthy, white or mentally healthy people rarely get death sentence (Steins, 1995). Judge, Douglas had also declared that death penalty had targeted the unpopular segment of society and therefore was unconstitutional under Eighth amendment.

(words: 273)ReferenceHerda, D.J. Furman v. Georgia: (1994). The Death Penalty Case. NY: Enslow Publishers, Inc.Steins, Richard. (1995). The Death Penalty: Is It Justice? NY: Twenty First Century Books.