William Henry Furman (born 1942) is an American convicted felon who was the central figure in ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each mem ...

'' (1972), the case in which the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

outlawed most uses of the death penalty in the United States.

Background

Furman, a black man, had a sixth-grade education, and was judged "emotionally disturbed and mentally impaired."

Crime and legal history

Furman was convicted of murdering William Micke during a home invasion in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, Georgia on August 11, 1967, and subsequently sentenced to death on September 26, 1968, after a one-day

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court on the basis of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The decision struck down death penalty schemes in the whole country. Four years after the landmark decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the death penalty when it approved the statutory changes made by three states in ''

Gregg v. Georgia ''Gregg v. Georgia'', ''Proffitt v. Florida'', ''Jurek v. Texas'', ''Woodson v. North Carolina'', and ''Roberts v. Louisiana'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It reaffirmed the Court's acceptance of the use ...

'' (1976). Furman was

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

d in April 1984. He pleaded guilty to a 2004 burglary charge in Bibb County Superior Court, and was sentenced to 20 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

. In April 2016, Furman was paroled from prison.

External links

''Suspended sentence: How the U.S. almost put capital punishment to death''
by Kevin Clarke *

Notes

American people convicted of murder Prisoners sentenced to death by Georgia (U.S. state) American prisoners sentenced to death People convicted of murder by Georgia (U.S. state) Living people American burglars American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment 1942 births {{US-law-bio-stub