godfrey
georgia
argued
february
decided
may
provision
georgia
code
person
convicted
murder
may
sentenced
death
found
beyond
reasonable
doubt
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
involved
torture
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
victim
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
held
unconstitutional
face
gregg
georgia
upon
jury
trial
georgia
state
petitioner
convicted
two
counts
murder
one
count
aggravated
assault
evidence
showed
wife
living
mother
rebuffed
efforts
reconciliation
petitioner
went
trailer
fired
shotgun
window
killing
wife
instantly
proceeded
trailer
striking
injuring
fleeing
daughter
barrel
gun
shot
instantly
killed
petitioner
called
sheriff
office
officers
arrived
acknowledged
responsibility
directed
officer
murder
weapon
later
told
officer
done
hideous
crime
sentencing
phase
trial
judge
quoted
jury
statutory
provision
question
jury
imposed
death
sentences
murder
convictions
specifying
aggravating
circumstance
conviction
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
georgia
affirmed
trial
judgments
respects
rejecting
petitioner
contention
statutory
provision
unconstitutionally
vague
holding
evidence
supported
jury
finding
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
held
judgment
reversed
insofar
leaves
standing
death
sentences
case
remanded
pp
reversed
remanded
justice
stewart
joined
justice
blackmun
justice
powell
justice
stevens
concluded
affirming
death
sentences
case
georgia
adopted
broad
vague
construction
statute
question
violate
eighth
fourteenth
amendments
pp
state
wishes
authorize
capital
punishment
constitutional
responsibility
tailor
apply
law
manner
avoids
arbitrary
capricious
infliction
death
penalty
thus
must
define
crimes
death
may
imposed
way
obviates
standardless
sentencing
discretion
cf
furman
georgia
gregg
georgia
supra
pp
earlier
decisions
interpreting
statutory
provision
georgia
concluded
evidence
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
must
demonstrate
torture
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
victim
ii
phrase
depravity
mind
comprehended
kind
mental
state
led
murderer
torture
commit
aggravated
battery
killing
victim
iii
word
torture
must
construed
pari
materia
aggravated
battery
require
evidence
serious
physical
abuse
victim
death
pp
however
georgia
courts
limit
statute
present
case
petitioner
torture
commit
aggravated
battery
upon
victims
cause
either
suffer
physical
injury
preceding
deaths
death
sentences
upheld
ground
murders
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
involved
depravity
mind
petitioner
crimes
said
reflected
consciousness
materially
depraved
person
guilty
murder
pp
justice
marshall
joined
justice
brennan
concurring
judgment
expressed
continuing
belief
death
penalty
circumstances
cruel
unusual
punishment
forbidden
eighth
fourteenth
amendments
also
agreed
plurality
georgia
construction
statutory
provision
issue
unconstitutionally
vague
gregg
georgia
supra
concluded
even
prevailing
view
death
penalty
may
circumstances
constitutionally
imposed
enough
reviewing
apply
narrowing
construction
otherwise
ambiguous
statutory
language
necessary
jury
instructed
proper
narrow
construction
statute
developments
since
gregg
progeny
strongly
suggest
appellate
courts
incapable
guaranteeing
kind
objectivity
evenhandedness
contemplated
gregg
pp
calloway
holmes
argued
cause
petitioner
brief
gerry
holmes
john
dunsmore
assistant
attorney
general
georgia
argued
cause
respondent
brief
arthur
bolton
attorney
general
robert
stubbs
ii
executive
assistant
attorney
general
langham
first
assistant
attorney
general
john
walden
senior
assistant
attorney
general
justice
stewart
announced
judgment
delivered
opinion
justice
blackmun
justice
powell
justice
stevens
joined
georgia
law
person
convicted
murder
may
sentenced
death
found
beyond
reasonable
doubt
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
involved
torture
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
victim
code
gregg
georgia
held
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
unconstitutional
face
responding
argument
language
provision
broad
capital
punishment
imposed
murder
case
joint
opinion
said
course
arguable
murder
involves
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
language
need
construed
way
reason
assume
georgia
adopt
construction
opinion
stewart
powell
stevens
day
early
september
petitioner
wife
years
heated
argument
home
course
altercation
petitioner
consumed
several
cans
beer
threatened
wife
knife
damaged
clothing
point
petitioner
wife
declared
going
leave
departed
stay
relatives
afternoon
went
justice
peace
secured
warrant
charging
petitioner
aggravated
assault
days
later
still
living
away
home
filed
suit
divorce
summons
served
petitioner
hearing
set
date
two
weeks
later
date
hearing
petitioner
several
occasions
asked
wife
return
home
time
efforts
rebuffed
point
period
wife
moved
mother
petitioner
believed
actively
instigating
wife
determination
consider
possible
reconciliation
early
evening
september
according
petitioner
wife
telephoned
home
argued
asserted
reconciliation
impossible
allegedly
demanded
proceeds
planned
sale
house
conversation
terminated
said
call
back
later
hour
ensuing
conversation
according
petitioner
account
even
heated
first
wife
reiterated
stand
reconciliation
question
said
still
wanted
proceeds
sale
house
mentioned
mother
supporting
position
stating
saw
use
talking
arguing
hung
juncture
petitioner
got
shotgun
walked
hill
home
trailer
lived
peering
window
observed
wife
daughter
playing
card
game
pointed
shotgun
wife
window
pulled
trigger
charge
gun
struck
wife
forehead
killed
instantly
proceeded
trailer
striking
injuring
fleeing
daughter
barrel
gun
fired
gun
striking
head
killing
instantly
petitioner
called
local
sheriff
office
identified
said
explained
killed
wife
asked
sheriff
come
pick
upon
arriving
trailer
law
enforcement
officers
found
petitioner
seated
chair
open
view
near
driveway
told
one
officers
dead
killed
directed
officer
place
put
murder
weapon
later
petitioner
told
police
officer
done
hideous
crime
thinking
eight
years
petitioner
subsequently
indicted
two
counts
murder
one
count
aggravated
assault
pleaded
guilty
relied
primarily
defense
temporary
insanity
trial
jury
returned
verdicts
guilty
three
counts
sentencing
phase
trial
held
jury
evidence
tendered
counsel
side
made
arguments
jury
three
times
course
argument
prosecutor
stated
case
involved
allegation
torture
aggravated
battery
counsel
completed
arguments
trial
judge
instructed
jury
orally
writing
standards
must
guide
imposing
sentence
orally
writing
judge
quoted
jury
statutory
language
aggravating
circumstance
entirety
jury
imposed
sentences
death
murder
convictions
jury
specified
aggravating
circumstance
found
beyond
reasonable
doubt
offense
murder
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
accord
georgia
law
capital
cases
trial
judge
prepared
report
form
answers
questionnaire
use
appellate
review
one
question
form
asked
whether
victim
physically
harmed
tortured
trial
judge
response
victims
excluding
actual
murdering
two
victims
georgia
affirmed
judgments
trial
respects
regard
imposition
death
sentence
two
murder
convictions
rejected
petitioner
contention
unconstitutionally
vague
noted
georgia
death
penalty
legislation
upheld
gregg
georgia
cited
prior
decisions
upholding
face
similar
vagueness
challenges
petitioner
argument
jury
phraseology
matter
law
inadequate
statement
responded
simply
observing
language
objectionable
found
evidence
sentence
imposed
influence
passion
prejudice
arbitrary
factor
held
sentence
neither
excessive
disproportionate
penalty
imposed
similar
cases
stated
evidence
supported
jury
finding
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
two
justices
dissented
ii
furman
georgia
held
penalty
death
may
imposed
sentencing
procedures
create
substantial
risk
punishment
inflicted
arbitrary
capricious
manner
gregg
georgia
supra
reaffirmed
holding
discretion
afforded
sentencing
body
matter
grave
determination
whether
human
life
taken
spared
discretion
must
suitably
directed
limited
minimize
risk
wholly
arbitrary
capricious
action
opinion
stewart
powell
stevens
means
state
wishes
authorize
capital
punishment
constitutional
responsibility
tailor
apply
law
manner
avoids
arbitrary
capricious
infliction
death
penalty
part
state
responsibility
regard
define
crimes
death
may
sentence
way
obviates
standardless
sentencing
discretion
gregg
georgia
supra
see
also
proffitt
florida
jurek
texas
must
channel
sentencer
discretion
clear
objective
standards
provide
specific
detailed
guidance
make
rationally
reviewable
process
imposing
sentence
death
made
clear
gregg
death
penalty
system
standards
vague
fail
adequately
channel
sentencing
decision
patterns
juries
result
pattern
arbitrary
capricious
sentencing
like
found
unconstitutional
furman
occur
case
us
georgia
affirmed
sentence
death
based
upon
finding
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
nothing
words
standing
alone
implies
inherent
restraint
arbitrary
capricious
infliction
death
sentence
person
ordinary
sensibility
fairly
characterize
almost
every
murder
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
view
may
fact
one
members
jury
case
subscribed
preconceptions
dispelled
trial
judge
sentencing
instructions
gave
jury
guidance
concerning
meaning
terms
fact
jury
interpretation
subject
sheer
speculation
standardless
unchanneled
imposition
death
sentences
uncontrolled
discretion
basically
uninstructed
jury
case
way
cured
affirmance
sentences
georgia
state
law
may
affirm
judgment
death
independently
assessed
evidence
record
determined
evidence
supports
trial
judge
jury
finding
aggravating
circumstance
code
past
cases
state
apparently
understood
obligation
carrying
responsibility
keep
within
constitutional
bounds
recognizing
possibility
abuse
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
emphasized
permit
language
subsection
simply
become
catchall
cases
fit
within
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
harris
state
thus
exercising
function
death
sentence
review
said
restrict
approval
death
penalty
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
cases
lie
core
gregg
decided
georgia
affirmed
two
death
sentences
based
wholly
see
mccorquodale
state
house
state
homicide
mccorquodale
horrifying
victim
beaten
burned
raped
otherwise
severely
abused
death
strangulation
homicide
house
similar
ilk
case
convicted
murderer
choked
two
boys
death
forced
submit
anal
sodomy
following
decision
gregg
georgia
first
time
articulated
conclusions
reached
respect
aggravating
circumstance
involves
effect
victim
torture
aggravated
battery
offender
depravity
mind
parties
test
acts
offense
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
believe
cases
decided
date
relied
exclusively
establishes
beyond
reasonable
doubt
depravity
mind
either
involved
torture
aggravated
battery
victim
illustrating
crimes
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
cases
core
periphery
harris
state
supra
find
significant
dissimilarity
outrageously
vile
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
considering
torture
aggravated
battery
one
hand
substantially
similar
treatment
victim
depravity
mind
hand
relating
defendant
find
room
nonunanimous
verdicts
reason
prohibition
upon
measuring
cause
one
hand
effect
hand
say
depravity
mind
contemplated
statute
results
torture
aggravated
battery
victim
georgia
courts
however
limit
present
case
claim
made
nothing
record
us
suggests
petitioner
committed
aggravated
battery
upon
wife
fact
caused
either
suffer
physical
injury
preceding
deaths
moreover
trial
prosecutor
repeatedly
told
jury
trial
judge
wrote
sentencing
report
murders
involve
torture
nothing
said
appeal
georgia
indicates
took
different
view
evidence
circumstances
case
therefore
satisfy
criteria
laid
georgia
harris
blake
cases
holding
evidence
supported
jury
finding
state
simply
asserted
verdict
factually
substantiated
thus
validity
petitioner
death
sentences
turns
whether
light
facts
circumstances
murders
convicted
committing
georgia
said
applied
constitutional
construction
phrase
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
involved
depravity
mind
conclude
answer
must
petitioner
crimes
said
reflected
consciousness
materially
depraved
person
guilty
murder
victims
killed
instantaneously
members
family
causing
extreme
emotional
trauma
shortly
killings
acknowledged
responsibility
heinous
nature
crimes
factors
certainly
remove
criminality
petitioner
acts
said
gardner
florida
vital
importance
defendant
community
decision
impose
death
sentence
appear
based
reason
rather
caprice
emotion
said
principled
way
distinguish
case
death
penalty
imposed
many
cases
accordingly
judgment
georgia
insofar
leaves
standing
petitioner
death
sentences
reversed
case
remanded
proceedings
ordered
footnotes
person
commits
murder
unlawfully
malice
aforethought
either
express
implied
causes
death
another
human
express
malice
deliberate
intention
unlawfully
take
away
life
fellow
creature
manifested
external
circumstances
capable
proof
malice
shall
implied
considerable
provocation
appears
circumstances
killing
show
abandoned
malignant
heart
person
also
commits
crime
murder
commission
felony
causes
death
another
human
irrespective
malice
statutory
aggravating
circumstances
upon
death
sentence
may
based
conviction
murder
georgia
considerably
specific
objectively
measurable
offense
murder
committed
person
prior
record
conviction
capital
felony
offense
murder
committed
person
substantial
history
serious
assaultive
criminal
convictions
offense
murder
committed
offender
engaged
commission
another
capital
felony
aggravated
battery
offense
murder
committed
offender
engaged
commission
burglary
arson
first
degree
offender
act
murder
knowingly
created
great
risk
death
one
person
public
place
means
weapon
device
normally
hazardous
lives
one
person
offender
committed
offense
murder
another
purpose
receiving
money
thing
monetary
value
murder
judicial
officer
former
judicial
officer
district
attorney
solicitor
former
district
attorney
solicitor
exercise
official
duty
offender
caused
directed
another
commit
murder
committed
murder
agent
employee
another
person
offense
murder
committed
peace
officer
corrections
employee
fireman
engaged
performance
official
duties
offense
murder
committed
person
escaped
lawful
custody
peace
officer
place
lawful
confinement
murder
committed
purpose
avoiding
interfering
preventing
lawful
arrest
custody
place
lawful
confinement
another
code
according
petitioner
first
time
wife
separated
result
violent
behavior
two
previous
occasions
petitioner
hospitalized
drinking
problem
another
question
form
asked
trial
judge
list
mitigating
circumstances
evidence
judge
noted
petitioner
significant
history
prior
criminal
activity
gregg
georgia
quoting
coley
state
proffitt
florida
opinion
stewart
powell
stevens
woodson
north
carolina
opinion
stewart
powell
stevens
see
also
ruffin
state
hill
state
cf
holton
state
gregg
georgia
supra
banks
state
mccorquodale
state
house
state
since
harris
blake
summarily
rejected
constitutional
challenges
construction
see
baker
state
collins
state
johnson
state
lamb
state
construction
finds
strong
support
language
structure
statutory
provision
aggravated
battery
term
defined
georgia
criminal
statutes
georgia
code
person
commits
aggravated
battery
maliciously
causes
bodily
harm
another
depriving
member
body
rendering
member
body
useless
seriously
disfiguring
body
member
thereof
appears
definition
least
one
occasion
treated
state
trial
courts
controlling
meaning
words
see
holton
state
note
however
harris
case
apparently
involve
torture
sense
see
thomas
state
stanley
state
dix
state
birt
state
mccorquodale
state
supra
sentences
death
case
rested
exclusively
accordingly
intimate
view
whether
petitioner
might
constitutionally
received
sentences
basis
georgia
make
multiple
murders
aggravating
circumstance
light
fact
constitutionally
irrelevant
petitioner
used
shotgun
instead
rifle
murder
weapon
resulting
gruesome
spectacle
trailer
interpretation
include
murders
resulting
gruesome
scenes
totally
irrational
justice
marshall
justice
brennan
joins
concurring
judgment
continue
believe
death
penalty
circumstances
cruel
unusual
punishment
forbidden
eighth
fourteenth
amendments
addition
agree
plurality
georgia
construction
provision
issue
case
unconstitutionally
vague
gregg
georgia
write
separately
first
examine
georgia
application
provision
second
suggest
enterprise
embarked
gregg
georgia
supra
increasingly
appears
doomed
failure
georgia
law
death
penalty
may
imposed
jury
finds
least
one
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
recommends
sentence
death
imposed
code
code
statutory
aggravating
circumstance
commit
murder
outrageously
wantonly
vile
horrible
inhuman
involved
torture
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
victim
gregg
georgia
supra
rejected
facial
challenge
constitutionality
aggravating
circumstance
joint
opinion
conceded
arguable
murder
involves
depravity
mind
aggravated
battery
opinion
stewart
powell
stevens
nonetheless
opinion
refused
invalidate
provision
face
reasoning
statutory
language
need
construed
way
reason
assume
georgia
adopt
construction
ibid
view
life
death
determined
niceties
language
conclusion
gregg
unconditional
expressly
based
assumption
georgia
adopt
narrowing
construction
give
discernible
content
present
case
narrowing
construction
read
jury
applied
georgia
appeal
many
times
past
upheld
jury
finding
simple
notation
supported
evidence
premise
gregg
relied
thus
proved
demonstrably
false
reason
readily
agree
plurality
applied
case
unconstitutionally
vague
record
unequivocally
establishes
trial
judge
prosecutor
jury
believe
evidence
showed
either
victim
tortured
aggravated
battery
victims
also
agree
since
victims
died
instantaneously
within
moments
fact
murder
weapon
one
caused
extensive
damage
victim
body
constitutionally
irrelevant
ante
unwilling
however
accept
plurality
characterization
decision
aberrational
lapse
part
georgia
ordinarily
narrow
construction
reasoning
two
decisions
rendered
shortly
decision
gregg
blake
state
harris
state
plurality
suggests
onward
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penalty
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instead
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matter
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determination
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human
life
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necessary
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insist
sentencing
procedures
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penalty
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stevens
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death
penalty
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justice
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dissenting
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effects
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sentences
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row
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since
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dix
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geo
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years
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death
penalty
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ing
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language
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authority
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human
ability
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california
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arbitrariness
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death
penalty
need
attempted
furman
concluded
arbitrary
infliction
death
penalty
constitutionally
intolerable
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mcgautha
approved
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death
penalty
imposed
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furman
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imposition
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penalty
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fourteenth
amendments
believe
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task
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justice
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view
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penalty
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circumstances
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unusual
punishment
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fourteenth
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effort
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sanction
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penalty
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white
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finding
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whether
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georgia
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state
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green
georgia
presnell
georgia
bell
ohio
lockett
ohio
downs
ohio
shelton
ohio
woods
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ohio
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arizona
coker
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florida
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death
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professor
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study
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florida
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since
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standards
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penalty
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gregg
companion
cases
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death
row
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naacp
legal
defense
educational
fund
death
row
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also
department
justice
capital
punishment
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furman
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naacp
legal
defense
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fund
death
row
apr
people
death
row
department
justice
capital
punishment
people
death
row
december
furman
brothers
stewart
white
concurred
judgment
largely
ground
death
penalty
infrequently
imposed
made
contribution
goals
punishment
justice
stewart
stated
petitioners
among
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selected
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upon
sentence
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fact
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georgia
justice
white
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penalty
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substantial
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rev
holton
state
cert
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reversed
sentence
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judge
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sentence
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cert
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banks
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cert
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course
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find
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murder
cases
chief
justice
burger
dissenting
murdering
wife
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sentence
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role
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physical
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sentence
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woman
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mean
suggest
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precludes
state
imposing
death
sentence
merciless
gratuitous
killer
plurality
novel
physical
torture
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may
provide
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criterion
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may
prescribe
death
sentence
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course
plurality
embarks
today
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function
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rights
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cases
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see
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rendered
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meticulous
care
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province
jury
judgment
tell
hideous
intentional
murderers
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given
ultimate
penalty
plurality
dissent
justice
white
justice
rehnquist
joins
dissenting
sole
question
presented
petition
whether
affirming
petitioner
death
sentence
georgia
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construction
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eighth
fourteenth
amendments
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godfrey
petitioner
wife
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move
back
home
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filed
divorce
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petitioner
aggravated
assault
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knife
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godfrey
refused
petitioner
request
halt
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proceedings
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reconciliation
day
petitioner
carried
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home
wife
mother
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daughter
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game
around
table
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window
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killed
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blast
head
daughter
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past
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head
barrel
gun
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reloaded
shotgun
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head
calling
police
petitioner
arrested
advised
rights
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station
told
officer
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hideous
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thought
eight
years
petitioner
defense
insanity
convicted
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wife
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assault
daughter
sentenced
death
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years
imprisonment
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assault
georgia
death
penalty
scheme
person
sentenced
death
jury
verdict
includes
finding
least
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imposed
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case
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georgia
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state
georgia
sentenced
petitioner
death
two
aspects
scheme
impressed
us
particular
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constitutional
defects
system
invalidated
several
years
earlier
furman
georgia
first
sentencing
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specifies
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death
sentence
ever
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code
second
scheme
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appeal
death
sentences
georgia
required
statute
undertake
specific
inquiry
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death
penalty
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new
sentencing
procedures
require
prerequisite
imposition
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penalty
specific
jury
findings
circumstances
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moreover
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compares
death
sentence
sentences
imposed
similarly
situated
defendants
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sentence
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stewart
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stevens
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penalty
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announcing
judgment
gregg
recognized
authorize
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penalty
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battery
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stewart
powell
stevens
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continued
language
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reason
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adopt
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concluding
georgia
adopted
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case
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murders
godfrey
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performance
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review
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found
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rendered
sentence
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finding
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finding
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argues
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contends
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objectively
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channel
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sentence
compliance
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amendments
brief
petitioner
plurality
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petitioner
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apparent
jury
georgia
understood
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entirety
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jurors
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petitioner
punishment
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imprisonment
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also
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victim
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georgia
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read
whole
applied
disjunctively
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state
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holton
state
finding
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sentence
cert
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quoting
language
jury
finding
cited
tellingly
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relation
conclude
georgia
responsibly
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review
function
believe
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petitioner
coldblooded
executioner
style
murdered
wife
passing
struck
young
daughter
head
barrel
gun
weapon
shotgun
hardly
known
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target
murder
scene
consequence
described
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petitioner
wife
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prone
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size
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exited
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pellets
passed
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head
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embedded
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cabinet
remembered
petitioner
inflicted
much
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took
time
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daughter
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house
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around
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wilkerson
whose
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moments
sentient
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mind
imagine
police
eventually
found
floor
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