McGautha v. California
McGautha v. California, 402 U.S. 183 (1971), is a criminal case heard by the United States Supreme Court, in which the Court held that the lack of legal standards by which juries imposed the death penalty was not an unconstitutional violation of the due process clause portion of the Eighth Amendment.[1]:467 Justice Harlan wrote that writing rules for jury death penalty decisions was beyond current human ability.[1]:467 The context was public and philosophical scrutiny of the unequal application of the death penalty, especially in that blacks who killed whites were much more likely to have a death penalty imposed.[1]:467 McGautha was superseded one year later by Furman v. Georgia, which held that sentencing discretion must be narrowed "so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious action."
| McGautha v. California | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued November 9, 1970 Decided May 3, 1971 | |
| Full case name | McGautha v. California |
| Citations | 402 U.S. 183 (more) 91 S. Ct. 1454; 28 L. Ed. 2d 711; 1971 U.S. LEXIS 107 |
| Holding | |
| (1) Untrammeled discretion of the jury the power to pronounce life or death in capital cases is constitutional. (2) Having the issues of guilt and punishment resolved in a single trial was constitutional. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Harlan, joined by Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun |
| Concurrence | Black |
| Dissent | Douglas, joined by Brennan, Marshall |
| Dissent | Brennan, joined by Douglas, Marshall |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. VIII | |
References
- Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, ISBN 978-1-4548-0698-1,
External links
- Text of McGautha v. California, 402 U.S. 183 (1971) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)