Coker v. Georgia

Coker v. Georgia
Argued March 28, 1977
Decided June 29, 1977
Full case nameErlich Anthony Coker v. State of Georgia
Citations433 U.S. 584 (more)
97 S. Ct. 2861; 53 L. Ed. 2d 982; 1977 U.S. LEXIS 146
Case history
PriorAfter he escaped from prison, the defendant raped an adult woman. He was convicted and sentenced to death, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia, Coker v. State, 234 Ga. 555, 216 S.E.2d 782 (1975); cert. granted, 429 U.S. 815 (1976).
Holding
The death penalty for the rape of an adult is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment and so is forbidden by the Eighth Amendment, as cruel and unusual punishment.
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
PluralityWhite, joined by Stewart, Blackmun, Stevens
ConcurrenceBrennan
ConcurrenceMarshall
Concur/dissentPowell
DissentBurger, joined by Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. VIII, XIV

Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), held that the death penalty for rape of an adult was grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[1]

The "evolving standards of decency" test has since been applied in other cases including Atkins v. Virginia (overturning Penry v. Lynaugh) Stanford v. Kentucky, and Roper v. Simmons.[2]

Because only a few states continued to have child rape statutes that authorized the death penalty, the Court applied the "evolving standards of decency" review in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) to expand Coker, ruling that the death penalty is unconstitutional for the rape of a child where there was no intention to kill the child.

  1. ^ Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977). Public domain This article incorporates public domain material from this U.S government document.
  2. ^ "Capital Punishment." West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman, 2nd ed., vol. 2, 2005, pp. 237-242.