Godfrey v. Georgia

Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a death sentence could not be granted for a murder when the only aggravating factor was that the murder was found to be "outrageously or wantonly vile."

Godfrey v. Georgia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 20, 1980 Decided May 19, 1980
Full case name	Robert Franklin Godfrey v. The State of Georgia
Citations	446 U.S. 420 (more) 100 S. Ct. 1759; 64 L. Ed. 2d 398
Holding
The Court reversed the judgment insofar as it leaves standing the death sentences, and the case was remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Plurality	Stewart, joined by Blackmun, Powell, Stevens
Concurrence	Marshall, joined by Brennan
Dissent	Burger
Dissent	White, joined by Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. XII, XIV

The Court reversed and remanded the Georgia death penalty sentence because, under Furman v. Georgia, such a factor did not help sentencing judges or juries avoid arbitrary and capricious infliction of the death penalty.

External links

• Text of Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420 (1980) is available from:  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio)