Stanford v. Kentucky 1989

• Author: Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
• Pages: 286-290

Contenidos

• Death penalty for juveniles approved.
• Children too young to know better.
• Suggestions for further reading.

Page 286

Petitioner: Kevin N. Stanford

Respondent: State of Kentucky

Petitioner's Claim: That executing him for committing murder when he was seventeen years old would be cruel and unusual punishment.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Frank W. Heft, Jr.

Chief Lawyer for Respondent: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General of Kentucky

Justices for the Court: Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting: Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens

Date of Decision: June 26, 1989

Decision: The Supreme Court affirmed Stanford's death sentence.

Significance: Under Stanford, the government may execute people who are sixteen years old or older when they commit murder.

On January 7, 1981, Kevin Stanford was seventeen years and four months old. That night, he and an accomplice robbed a gas station in Jefferson County, Kentucky, where Barbel Poore worked as an attendant. During the robbery Stanford and his accomplice repeatedly raped Poore. After taking 300 cartons of cigarettes, two gallons of fuel, and a small

Page 287

amount of cash, they drove Poore to a hidden area near the gas station. There Stanford killed Poore by shooting her once in the face and once in the back of the head.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Courtesy of the Supreme Court of the United States.

After he was arrested, Stanford admitted to the murder to a corrections officer. Stanford said he killed Poore because she lived next door and would recognize him. The corrections officer said Stanford laughed when he told the story.

Kentucky state law allowed juveniles to be tried as adults for committing murder. A juvenile court conducted a hearing to determine if Stanford should be tried as an adult. The court learned that Stanford had a history of juvenile offenses and did not respond well to reform efforts. Because Stanford was charged with a disgusting murder, had many prior crimes, and did not seem capable of being reformed, the court ordered Stanford to be tried as an adult.

Stanford was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, however, prevents the government from using cruel and unusual punishment. Stanford used the Eighth Amendment to appeal his death sentence. He said it would be cruel and unusual to...