Eighth Amendment - juvenile sentencing - Ninth Circuit upholds life sentence without possibility of parole of fifteen-year-old murderer. - Harris v. Wright, 93 F.3d 581 (9th Cir. 1996)
Article Abstract:
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Harris v. Wright that a life sentence without the possibility of parole imposed on a 15-year-old did not violate the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. The 15-year-old was convicted of first degree murder for participating in a robbery during which an accomplice killed a store owner. The Court employed the US Supreme Court's proportionality test but did not consider juvenile status to be a mitigating factor because capital punishment was not involved. The Supreme Court should expressly rule that youth is a factor in both capital and noncapital Eighth Amendment analysis.
Publication Name: Harvard Law Review
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0017-811X
Year: 1997
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Constitutional law - Eighth Amendment - Ninth Circuit holds California's lethal gas method of execution unconstitutional. - Fierro v. Gomez, 77 F.3d 301 (9th Cir.), vacated, 117 S. Ct. 285 (1996)
Article Abstract:
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the lower court's ruling in Fierro v. Gomez that California's use of lethal gas constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, but it found that the lower court did not need to employ legislative analysis. Eighth Amendment case law focuses on both the pain caused by a particular method of execution and whether the method is still used by other states. The trial court looked to both of these considerations and found both present. The Ninth Circuit stated that the pain inquiry should have been sufficient.
Publication Name: Harvard Law Review
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0017-811X
Year: 1997
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Criminal law - plea agreements - Second Circuit upholds plea provision that waives appeal without fixed sentence range
Article Abstract:
The US 2d Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997's United States v. Rosa incorrectly expanded upon accepted judicial doctrine by upholding criminal appellate waiver clauses in plea bargain agreements where actual sentences exceed the stipulated range. Application of the court's rule will result in unfairness, nonuniformity in federal sentencing, and inefficient judicial administration. The court should have enunciated a per se rule requiring such waivers to contain explicit sentencing ranges.
Publication Name: Harvard Law Review
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0017-811X
Year: 1998
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- Abstracts: Constitutional law - Tenth Amendment - Ninth Circuit holds interim enforcement provisions of the Brady Bill constitutional - Mack v. United States, 66 F.3d 1025 (9th Cir. 1995), petition for cert. filed, 64 U.S.L.W. 3642 (U.S. Mar. 15, 1996)(No. 95-1478)
- Abstracts: Sexual harassment - Title IX - Fifth Circuit holds school district not liable for student-to-student sexual harassment. - Rowinsky v. Bryan Independent School District, 80 F.3d 1006 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 65 U.S.L.W. 3033 (U.S. Oct. 7, 1996)(No. 96-4)
- Abstracts: Sexual harassment - Title IX - Fifth Circuit holds school district not liable for student-to-student sexual harassment. - Rowinsky v. Bryan Independent School District, 80 F.3d 1006 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 65 U.S.L.W. 3033 (U.S. Oct. 7, 1996)(No. 96-4). part 2
- Abstracts: A company's ability to prevent disclosure of attorney's notes created during an internal investigation may depend on its use of reports produced in the inquiry
- Abstracts: The test for determining foreign private issuer status. The SEC's new public disclosure rule: regulation FD. New York Court of Appeals finds state-law claims attacking payment for order flow preempted by Exchange Act and SEC regulations