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Harris, 465 U.S. 37 (1984) — A state appellate court, before it affirms a death sentence, is not required to compare the sentence in the case before it with the penalties imposed in similar cases if requested to do so by the prisoner. Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149 (1990) — Mandatory appellate review is not required in death penalty cases.
In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that when a convict sentenced to death challenges the State's method of execution due to claims of excessive pain, the convict must show that other alternative methods of execution exist and clearly demonstrate they would cause less pain than the state-determined one.
Opponents to the death penalty note that the lethal injection, the most common method of carrying out the death penalty, can oftentimes cause executed individuals to remain conscious for several minutes after administering the injection, causing them to feel severe pain in their veins. [294]
The death penalty is sought in only a fraction of murder cases, and it is often doled out capriciously. The National Academy of Sciences concludes that its role as a deterrent is ambiguous.
Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989), was a United States Supreme Court case that sanctioned the death penalty for mentally disabled offenders because the Court determined executing the mentally disabled was not "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. [1]
Death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals by county. An inmate is considered to have exhausted their appeals if their sentence has fully withstood the appellate process; this involves either the individual's conviction and death sentence withstanding each stage of the appellate process or them waiving a part of the appellate process if a court has found them competent to do so.
The Death Penalty Information Center adds: “Although sometimes referred to as the ‘gold standard’ of capital punishment … the federal death penalty … is plagued by the same serious ...
Attorneys appointed to cases where the death penalty is being sought appear to be entitled to receive $30,000-$50,000 above the attorney fee, according to the policy.