Opinion ID: 1619317
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 44

Heading: history of proportionality review in missouri

Text: In Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 197-199, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976), the United States Supreme Court held that the death penalty is constitutional if not imposed arbitrarily and if procedural safeguards against improper imposition of the death penalty were followed. The Supreme Court noted that the Georgia death penalty procedures analyzed in Gregg met these requirements because, among other things, they compared each death sentence with the sentences imposed on similarly situated defendants to ensure that the sentence of death in a particular case is not disproportionate. Id. at 198, 96 S.Ct. 2909. In reliance on Gregg , Missouri's legislature re-enacted the death penalty in 1977. § 565.001 et seq., RSMo Supp.1977. Section 565.008.1 made persons convicted of capital murder eligible for one of two possible sentences  either death or life in prison without eligibility for probation or parole for 50 years. Section 565.014 also noted a right of direct appeal to this Court in all cases in which the death penalty was imposed and required that in all such cases: