Court Opinion

ID: 9428005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:33.441423+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:11.144508
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Marshall,
concurring in the judgment.
I continue to believe that the death penalty is, under all circumstances, cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 314-374 (1972) (Marshall, J., concurring); Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 231-241 (1976) (Marshall, J., dissenting); Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U. S. 420, 433-442 (1980) (Marshall, J., concurring in judgment). In addition, I agree with the Court that Alabama’s prohibition on giving lesser included offense instructions in capital cases is unconstitutional because it substantially increases the risk of error in the factfinding process. I do not, however, join in the Court’s assumption that the death penalty may ever be imposed without violating the command of the Eighth Amendment that no “cruel and unusual punishments” be imposed. Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586, 621 (1978) (Marshall, J., concurring in judgment); Bell v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 637, 643-644 (1978) (Marshall, J., concurring in judgment). I join in the judgment of the Court.