Austin Williams
Ms. Plaehn/Ms. Ruch
Senior Demonstration
28 April 2016
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. —8th Amendment to the United States Constitution
Constitutionality
Oklahoma leads the country in the highest number of executions per capita. The most recent person executed was Charles Frederick Warner. His execution came while awaiting a notice of whether or not the U.S. Supreme Court would hear his case on the death penalty. He was executed on January 15, 2015, just eight days before the court granted a hearing; consequently the state of Oklahoma robbed his legal team of the chance to plead for the lives of hundreds in front of the highest court in the land. …show more content…
In I Am Troy Davis, Marlowe argues that this immediate response was due, in large part, to racial and geographic influences. She begins to identify the root causes of this immediate response when she writes, “the states that execute the largest numbers of prisoners are in the historically slave-owning South” (3). Marlowe provides more evidence to Breyer’s arbitrary claim by stating, “he had been tried and convicted in the media…Rather than seeking truth, facts, and answers, the prosecution sought evidence to be used to convict Troy, even if they had to coerce or intimidate witnesses to get it” (73). Without the ability to substantiate a conviction, even in one case, based solely on fact, the system fractures and becomes unconstitutional. Marlowe’s argument is further validated by Baumgartner and the Death Penalty Information Center’s research (see Appendix C, D and E). All of these charts speak to the racist nature of capital punishment; however, Appendix D specifically shows the large disadvantage that black defendants have when charged with an interracial
Ms. Plaehn/Ms. Ruch
Senior Demonstration
28 April 2016
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. —8th Amendment to the United States Constitution
Constitutionality
Oklahoma leads the country in the highest number of executions per capita. The most recent person executed was Charles Frederick Warner. His execution came while awaiting a notice of whether or not the U.S. Supreme Court would hear his case on the death penalty. He was executed on January 15, 2015, just eight days before the court granted a hearing; consequently the state of Oklahoma robbed his legal team of the chance to plead for the lives of hundreds in front of the highest court in the land. …show more content…
In I Am Troy Davis, Marlowe argues that this immediate response was due, in large part, to racial and geographic influences. She begins to identify the root causes of this immediate response when she writes, “the states that execute the largest numbers of prisoners are in the historically slave-owning South” (3). Marlowe provides more evidence to Breyer’s arbitrary claim by stating, “he had been tried and convicted in the media…Rather than seeking truth, facts, and answers, the prosecution sought evidence to be used to convict Troy, even if they had to coerce or intimidate witnesses to get it” (73). Without the ability to substantiate a conviction, even in one case, based solely on fact, the system fractures and becomes unconstitutional. Marlowe’s argument is further validated by Baumgartner and the Death Penalty Information Center’s research (see Appendix C, D and E). All of these charts speak to the racist nature of capital punishment; however, Appendix D specifically shows the large disadvantage that black defendants have when charged with an interracial