John P. Bourcier (March 27, 1927 – August 15, 2002) was a justice of the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial No ...

from 1995 to 2002. Born in Rhode Island, Bourcier served in the U.S. Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and thereafter graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and

Vanderbilt University Law School Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as Vanderbilt Law School or VLS) is a graduate school of Vanderbilt University. Established in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law School has consiste ...

. After spending two decades as a trial lawyer in private practice, he was appointed as a judge to the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1974 and the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1995. While on the Superior Court, his decisions were upheld by the state Supreme Court 93% of the time. He gained the nickname "Maximum John" due to his tough criminal sentences, and although he was personally opposed to

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, he handed out the last death sentences imposed in the state in 1976."John P. Bourcier", ''Asbury Park Press'' (August 17, 2002), p. 15. Bourcier died of complications from cancer at the age of 75.

References

1927 births 2002 deaths Military personnel from Rhode Island Brown University alumni Vanderbilt University Law School alumni Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court 20th-century American judges {{RhodeIsland-state-judge-stub