NCJ Number
100547
Journal
New England Jurnal on Criminal and Civil Confinement Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1985) Pages: 437-487
Date Published
1985
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This paper considers the ways in which the U.S. Supreme Court might decide the issues raised by Trimble v. Maryland, a Maryland juvenile death penalty case whose writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court (February 19, 1985), in the event the Court addresses them in a future case.
Abstract
Trimble's petition asked whether the execution of a person under 18 years old at the time of the conviction crime constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The Court was also asked to decide whether the death sentence imposed under Maryland law, which requires the defendant to convince the sentencer not to impose the death penalty, violates the 8th and 14th amendments. Had the Court granted certiorari, it might have held that the death penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment as applied to Trimble, especially since he was near adult age at the time of the offense and the case was thoroughly reviewed by the court of appeals. Regarding the constitutionality of Maryland's death penalty statute, it complies with U.S. Supreme Court relevant standards. The Maryland legislature is not likely to change the State's death penalty scheme. 267 footnotes.