Kennedy v. Louisiana | |
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Argued April 16, 2008 Decided June 25, 2008 | |
Full case name | Patrick O. Kennedy v. State of Louisiana |
Docket no. | 07-343 |
Citations | 554 U.S. 407 (more) |
Argument | Oral argument |
Case history | |
Prior | Defendant convicted, sentenced, La. Dist. Ct., Aug. 26, 2003; aff'd, State v. Kennedy, 957 So.2d 757 (La. 2007); cert. granted, 552 U.S. 1087 (2008). |
Procedural | Writ of Certiorari to the Louisiana Supreme Court |
Subsequent | Supplemental briefing ordered, 554 U.S. 943 (2008). Opinion modified; Petition for Rehearing denied, 554 U.S. 945 (2008) |
Holding | |
It is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty for a crime where the victim did not die and the victim's death was not intended. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Kennedy, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer |
Dissent | Alito, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amends. VIII, XIV; La. Stat. Ann. §14:42 |
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for a crime in which the victim did not die and the victim's death was not intended.