Appeals
Thompson's attorneys first attempted to appeal the case on the fact that inflammatory photographs were used by the prosecution to provoke the jury. Although the court did find that two of the photographs should have been excluded from the trial, the overwhelming evidence meant that the case was affirmed by the court.
Then, due to his quickly approaching execution, his attorneys filed his case with the Supreme Court, saying that the execution of a juvenile was unconstitutional under the Eight Amendment's "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" clause. The Court deliberated and made its decision June 29, 1988. They voted 5-3 in favor of Thompson, with Justice Anthony Kennedy not taking part in the case. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion and Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the minority opinion.
Read more about this topic: Thompson V. Oklahoma
Famous quotes containing the word appeals:
“Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in the favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.”
—Truman Capote (1924–1984)
“The War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of Fate.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
“It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)