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Whitmore V. Arkansas
''Whitmore v. Arkansas'', 495 U.S. 149 (1990), is a U.S. Supreme Court Case that held that the Eighth and the Fourteenth Amendments do not require mandatory appellate review of death penalty cases and that individuals cannot file cases as a next friend unless there is a prior relationship to the appellant and unless the appellant is "unable to litigate his own cause due to mental incapacity, lack of access to court, or other similar disability". Background Ronald Gene Simmons was convicted of the mass murder of sixteen people and sentenced to death. Arkansas state law did not require appellate review of capital sentences, and Simmons chose to contest neither the conviction nor the sentence, in fact, requesting a speedy execution: I, Ronald Gene Simmons, Sr., want it to be known that it is my wish and my desire that absolutely no action by anybody be taken to appeal or in any way change this sentence. It is further respectfully requested that this sentence be carried out expedit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eighth Amendment To The United States Constitution
The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. This amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the United States Bill of Rights. The amendment serves as a limitation upon the federal government to impose unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants before and after a conviction. This limitation applies equally to the price for obtaining pretrial release and the punishment for crime after conviction. The phrases in this amendment originated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689. The prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments has led courts to hold that the Constitution totally prohibits certain kinds of punishment, such as drawing and quartering. Under the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, the Supreme Court has struck down the application of capital punishment in some instances, but capital punishment is still permitted in s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Often considered as one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. The amendment, particularly its first section, is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution, forming the basis for landmark Supreme Court decisions such as ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954) regarding racial segregation, ''Roe v. Wade'' (1973) regarding abortion ( overturned in 2022), ''Bush v. Gore'' (2000) regarding the 2000 presidential election, and ''Obergefell v. Hodges'' (2015) regarding same-sex marriage. The amendment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Next Friend
In common law, a next friend (Law French ''prochein ami'') is a person who represents another person who is under age, or, because of disability or otherwise, is unable to maintain a suit on his or her own behalf and who does not have a legal guardian. They are also known as litigation friends. When a relative who is next of kin acts as a next friend for a person, that person is sometimes instead described as the "natural guardian" of the person. A next friend has full power over the proceedings in the action as if he or she were an ordinary plaintiff, until a guardian or guardian ad litem is appointed in the case; but the next friend is entitled to present evidence only on the same basis as any other witness. Uses This disability often arises from minority, mental incapacity, or lack of access to counsel. Consequently, every application to the court on behalf of a minor, a mentally incapacitated person, or a person detained without access to an attorney, who does not have a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Gene Simmons
Ronald Gene Simmons Sr. (July 15, 1940 – June 25, 1990) was an American mass murderer and spree killer who killed 16 people over a week-long period in Arkansas in 1987. A retired military serviceman, Simmons murdered fourteen members of his family, including a daughter he had child sexual abuse, sexually abused and the child he had fathered with her, as well as a former co-worker, and a stranger; he also wounded four others. He is the most prolific mass murderer in Arkansas history. Simmons was sentenced to death sixteen times, and after refusing to appeal his sentence, was executed in Arkansas on June 25, 1990. His refusal to appeal was the subject of a 1990 Supreme Court Case, ''Whitmore v. Arkansas''. Early life and military career Ronald Gene Simmons was born on July 15, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, to Loretta and William Simmons. On January 31, 1943, William Simmons died of a stroke and within a year, Simmons's mother had remarried, this time to William D. Griffen, a civ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mass Murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more people during an event with no "cooling-off period" between the homicides. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more people kill several others. A mass murder may be committed by individuals or organizations whereas a spree killing is committed by one or two individuals. Mass murderers differ from spree killers, who kill at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders and are not defined by the number of victims, and serial killers, who may kill people over long periods of time. The incidents of mass shootings are continuing to increase. By terrorist organizations Many terrorist groups in recent times have used the tactic of killing many victims to fulfill their political aims. Such incidents h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habeas Corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether the detention is lawful. The writ of ''habeas corpus'' was described in the eighteenth century by William Blackstone as a "great and efficacious writ in all manner of illegal confinement". It is a summons with the force of a court order; it is addressed to the custodian (a prison official, for example) and demands that a prisoner be brought before the court, and that the custodian present proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether the custodian has lawful authority to detain the prisoner. If the custodian is acting beyond their authority, then the prisoner must be released. Any prisoner, or another person acting on their behalf, may petition the court, or a judge, for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from 1986 until his death in 2005. Considered a staunch conservative, Rehnquist favored a conception of federalism that emphasized the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states. Under this view of federalism, the Court, for the first time since the 1930s (with the exception of ''National League of Cities v. Usery'', which was overruled in '' Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority''), struck down an act of Congress as exceeding its power under the Commerce Clause. Rehnquist grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the final years of World War II. After the war's end in 1945, he studied political science at Stanford University and Harvard University, then attended Stanford Law Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Prior to his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall coordinated the assault on racial segregation in schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in ''Brown v. Board of Education'', which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal, he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall attended Lincoln University and the Howard Universi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William J
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name shoul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamdi V
Hamdi ( ar, حمدي) is a masculine Arabic given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Hamdi Aslan (born 1967), Turkish footballer and coach * Hamdi Al Banbi (1935–2016), Egyptian engineer and politician * Hamdi Braa (born 1986), Tunisian basketball player * Hamdi Harbaoui, Tunisian footballer * Hamdi Kasraoui, Tunisian footballer * Hamdi Kayapınar (born 1979), Turkish serial killer * Hamdi Marzouki (born 1977), Tunisian footballer * Hamdi al-Pachachi (1886–1948), Iraqi politician * Hamdi Salihi (born 1984), Albanian footballer * Hamdi Ulukaya (born 1972), Turkish businessman and entrepreneur of Kurdish descent * Hamdy Wahiba, retired Egyptian military officer Middle name * Ahmet Hamdi Boyacıoğlu (1920–1998), Turkish judge * Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901–1962), Turkish writer * Osman Hamdi Bey (1842–1910), Turkish archaeologist * Serpil Hamdi Tüzün, Turkish youth coach Surname * Baligh Hamdi (1932–1993), Egyptian composer * Ema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaser Hamdi
Yaser Esam Hamdi (born September 26, 1980) is a former American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. The United States government claims that he was fighting with the Taliban against U.S. and Afghan Northern Alliance forces. He was declared an "illegal enemy combatant" by the Bush administration and detained for almost three years without charge. On October 9, 2004, on the condition that he renounce his U.S. citizenship and commit to travel prohibitions and other conditions, the government released him and deported him to Saudi Arabia, where he had been raised. Hamdi was initially detained at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, along with eventually hundreds of other detainees. After officials learned that he was a U.S. citizen, Hamdi was transferred to military jails in Virginia and South Carolina. He continued to be detained without trial or legal representation. Critics of his imprisonment claimed his civil rights were violated and that he was denied due proc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capital Punishment In Arkansas
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1820, a total of 505 individuals have been executed. According to the Arkansas Department of Correction, as of January 16, 2019, a total of 29 men were under a sentence of death in the state. History All but four executions carried out before 1913 were by hanging. Four guerillas were shot on July 29, 1864. On July 25, 1902, seven men were hanged, the most executions in one day in the state. Almost all executions were for crimes that involved murder. A number of people were also executed for rape and there was one execution for espionage, 17-year-old alleged Confederate spDavid O. Dodd hanged by Union soldiers on January 8, 1864. In 1913, the method used was changed to the electric chair. The electric chair was constructed from the wood that had previously made up the state gallows. This electric chair would be used for all electrocutions up until 1964. Four more people were hanged in the state — one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
