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During various periods from the 1600s onward, New York law prescribed the death penalty for crimes such as sodomy, adultery, counterfeiting, perjury, and attempted rape or murder by slaves. [8] In 1796, New York abolished the death penalty for crimes other than murder and treason, but arson was made a capital crime in 1808. [8]
People v. LaValle, 3 N.Y.3d 88 (2004), was a landmark decision by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the U.S. state of New York, in which the court ruled that the state's death penalty statute was unconstitutional because of the statute's direction on how the jury was to be instructed in case of deadlock.
In an 1898 op-ed in The New York Times, prominent physician Austin Flint called for the abolition of the death penalty and suggested more criminology-based methods should be used to reduce crime. [8] Anti-death penalty activism of this period was largely state and locally based.
The United States has executed 23 men this year, with six of those executions coming during one remarkable 11-day period. At least two more executions are scheduled before the end of the year.
Subsequently, a majority of states enacted new death penalty statutes, and the court affirmed the legality of the practice in the 1976 case Gregg v. Georgia. Since then, more than 8,500 defendants have been sentenced to death; [13] [14] of these, more than 1,605 have been executed. [15] [16] [17] Most executions are carried out by states. [3]
Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) – The death penalty is unconstitutional for rape of an adult woman when the victim is not killed. Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982) – The death penalty is unconstitutional for a person who is a minor participant in a felony and does not kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill. Tison v.
The Queens District Attorney's Office fought to have Taylor's case declared an exception to the decision, but were unsuccessful. As a result, on October 23, 2007, the New York Court of Appeals vacated the death penalty portion of Taylor's verdict. [4] At this time, Taylor was the last remaining inmate on death row in New York. [5]
Wilson was the first federal defendant sentenced to death in New York City since 1954. [5] Wilson was originally charged in New York state court, but the federal government took over the prosecution after the New York Court of Appeals held, in People v. LaValle, that the state's death penalty statute violated the New York State Constitution. [6]