Troy Leon Gregg
Gregg vs Georgia
In 1976, a man named Troy Gregg was convicted of armed robbery and murder. Gregg had been hitchhiking on the side of the road when two men, Fred Simmons and Bob Moore had picked him up, he later shot and killed both of them. In previous years to Gregg's conviction, several states across the U.S had changed their laws on the death penalty saying that it was unconstitutional, and went against the 8th and 14th amendment. However, when it came to the case of troy gregg, the courts sentenced him to the death penalty saying that the judge and jury had carefully looked into the case and its consequences. The courts had come up with a system for death sentencing where there are ten aggravating cases in which the defendant must be guilty of at least one of, in order to be eligible for the death penalty. Gregg went through two trials, a guilt trial which was a trial in order to prove the defendant guilty and avoid any mistrials. The second trial was to sentence Gregg for his crimes. Troy Gregg died on July 29th, 1980.
AMENDMENTS
The amendment in question are the 8th and the 14th. the 8th amendment restricts the amount of money that the state, court and law can charge a person for bail. It also prohibits the strange and unusual punishments clause. This was in question in this case obviously because they tried to sentence a man to death. The 14th amendment was questioned in this case because its purpose is to protect any united states citizen and their rights including rights to possessions and life, unless a fair and thorough trial has been presented. |
BOTH SIDES
The law wanted to sentence Gregg to the death penalty but the court was challenged by the Furman vs Georgia case where the previous laws on the death penalty had been made invalid. The defendants side of the case argued that the 8th and 14th amendment were being violated but in the end, the court had proven that he was indeed guilty of robbery and murder although he was only sentenced to death for his charges of murder. |
WHO WAS AFFECTED?
The people who will be most affected by this case are future convicts. The Laws on the death penalty have changed multiple times throughout the last few decades which effects the people who are under the mercy and conviction of the law. |
OVER VIEW
In simple language, a man named Troy Gregg was a hitchhiker who got picked up and who later murdered the men who gave him a ride. When the courts tried to sentence him to the death penalty, trials from previous years were brought up because of their relevance to the law in this case. In the case of Furman vs Georgia, which tested and tried the "strange and unusual punishments clause" which effected the death penalty and how criminals were sentenced in years after. |
PERSONAL COMMENTARY
Personally i dont think that anyone should really be sentenced to death. I think that a more cruel punishment would be to make them live with themselves and what they've done while they rot in jail the rest of their lives. If you kill someone; if you take another persons life, then why should yours be spared? I guess the case was fair although I think that the justice system should be a little faster at prosecuting criminals because while Gregg was convicted in 1976, he wasn't sentenced until 1980.
Personally i dont think that anyone should really be sentenced to death. I think that a more cruel punishment would be to make them live with themselves and what they've done while they rot in jail the rest of their lives. If you kill someone; if you take another persons life, then why should yours be spared? I guess the case was fair although I think that the justice system should be a little faster at prosecuting criminals because while Gregg was convicted in 1976, he wasn't sentenced until 1980.