general principle of proportionality

In 1964, 1966, and 1969 Jerry Helm was convicted in South Dakota of third-degree burglary. In 1972 he was convicted of obtaining money under false pretenses, in 1973 of grand larceny, and in 1975 of third-offense driving while intoxicated. All six offenses were nonviolent and alcohol contributed to each. In 1979 Helm was charged with uttering a no-account check for $100. He told the trial court he had been drinking in Sioux Falls, ended up in Rapid City with more money than he started with, and did not remember the incident, then pleaded guilty. Because he had three prior felony convictions in addition to the principal felony, the South Dakota Circuit Court sentenced him to life imprisonment without possibility of parole under the recidivist statute. The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the sentence in a 3-2 decision. After Helm served two years, he asked the Governor to commute the sentence so he could become eligible for parole after serving three-fourths of a fixed term; the Governor denied the request in May 1981. Helm filed a habeas corpus petition in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, which denied relief. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider the Eighth Amendment question.

On November 21, 1973, Troy Gregg and Floyd Allen were hitchhiking north in Florida when they were picked up by Fred Simmons and Bob Moore in their car. Their car broke down. Simmons purchased another vehicle with some of the cash he was carrying. While still in Florida, the group picked up Dennis Weaver, who rode with them to Atlanta, where he was let out about 11 p.m. A short time later the four men stopped for a rest along the highway in Gwinnett County, Georgia. The next morning the bodies of Simmons and Moore were discovered in a nearby ditch. On November 23, after reading about the shootings in an Atlanta newspaper, Weaver communicated with the Gwinnett County police and related information concerning the journey with the victims, including a description of the car. The next afternoon, Gregg and Allen, while in Simmons' car, were arrested in Asheville, North Carolina. In the search incident to the arrest a .25-caliber pistol, later shown to be that used to kill Simmons and Moore, was found in Gregg's pocket. After receiving Miranda warnings and signing a written waiver, Gregg signed a statement admitting he shot Simmons and Moore but claiming self-defense. At the guilt stage of the bifurcated trial, a medical examiner testified that Simmons died from a bullet wound in the eye and that Moore died from bullet wounds in the cheek and in the back of the head. The examiner further testified that both men had several bruises and abrasions about the face and head. Gregg testified claiming self-defense after Simmons and Moore allegedly attacked with a pipe and knife, but the jury convicted him of two counts of armed robbery and two counts of murder. At the penalty stage before the same jury, neither side presented additional evidence. The trial judge instructed the jury that it could recommend either a death sentence or a life prison sentence on each count. The judge further charged the jury that in determining the sentence it was free to consider mitigating or aggravating circumstances. The judge instructed that death could not be imposed unless the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt one of the aggravating circumstances. The jury found the first and second aggravating circumstances and returned verdicts of death on each count. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions and the death sentences for murder after reviewing the record and comparing the sentences to similar cases, but it vacated the death sentences for armed robbery. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari limited to the challenge to the death sentences under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

In 1978, Warren McCleskey, a black man, was convicted in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder arising from the robbery of a furniture store in which a white police officer was killed. McCleskey and three accomplices, all armed, planned and carried out the robbery. McCleskey secured the front of the store, forcing customers to lie down, while the others tied up employees and took receipts, a watch, and six dollars. When a police officer responding to a silent alarm entered, two shots were fired, both striking him, one fatally in the face. At trial, the State introduced evidence that at least one of the bullets that struck the officer was fired from a .38 caliber Rossi revolver matching the gun McCleskey had carried. The State also introduced the testimony of two witnesses who had heard McCleskey admit to the shooting. The jury convicted McCleskey of murder. At the penalty hearing, the jury found two statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt: the murder was committed during armed robbery and upon a peace officer engaged in the performance of his duties. McCleskey offered no mitigating evidence. The jury recommended death on the murder charge and consecutive life sentences on the robberies. The court imposed the death sentence. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences in 1980. This Court denied certiorari. After state habeas relief was denied, McCleskey filed a federal habeas petition in the Northern District of Georgia raising 18 claims, one of which was that the Georgia capital sentencing process is administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. He supported this with the Baldus study, a statistical analysis of over 2,000 murder cases from the 1970s examining more than 200 variables. The raw numbers showed defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty in 11% of cases, compared to 1% for killing black victims. When divided by race combinations, black defendants killing white victims received death in 22% of cases, white defendants killing white victims in 8%, black defendants killing black victims in 1%, and white defendants killing black victims in 3%. After controlling for 230 nonracial variables, one model showed defendants killing white victims were 4.3 times as likely to receive death, and black defendants 1.1 times as likely. The District Court held an evidentiary hearing and found the study statistically valid but flawed in methodology and insufficient to show racial considerations in McCleskey's case or a prima facie case. The Eleventh Circuit, en banc, assumed the study's validity but held the statistics insufficient to demonstrate discriminatory intent or unconstitutional arbitrariness. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1986, limited to the equal protection claim.

Respondent Freddie Booker was charged with possession with intent to distribute at least 50 grams of crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The jury heard evidence that he possessed 92.5 grams in his duffel bag and found him guilty. Based on the jury's findings and his criminal history, the Guidelines called for a base sentence of 210 to 262 months. At sentencing, the district judge found by a preponderance that Booker possessed an additional 566 grams of crack and had obstructed justice. These findings raised the range to 360 months to life. The judge imposed 360 months. In the companion case, respondent Ducan Fanfan was convicted of conspiracy involving at least 500 grams of cocaine. The jury verdict authorized up to 78 months. The judge found additional facts that would have raised the range to 188 to 235 months but declined to apply them after Blakely. The Seventh Circuit held Booker's sentence violated the Sixth Amendment under Blakely and Apprendi. It remanded for resentencing based on jury findings. The Government sought certiorari in both cases, which the Court granted.

Christopher Simmons was 17 years old and a junior in high school when he committed the murder of Shirley Crook in Missouri. Simmons planned the crime with two friends, Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer, discussing breaking into a home, tying up a victim, and throwing the victim off a bridge. On the night of the murder, Simmons and Benjamin entered Crook's home through an open window, bound her with duct tape, drove her to a state park, reinforced her bindings with electrical wire, wrapped her face in duct tape, and threw her from a railroad trestle into the Meramec River, where she drowned. Simmons was arrested the next day at his high school after bragging about the killing. Police read him his Miranda rights, and he waived his right to an attorney before confessing and agreeing to a videotaped reenactment at the crime scene. The State charged him with burglary, kidnapping, stealing, and first-degree murder. Because Simmons was 17 at the time of the crime, he fell outside Missouri's juvenile court jurisdiction under Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 211.021 and 211.031 and was tried as an adult. At trial the State introduced Simmons' confession, the videotaped reenactment, and testimony about his advance planning and later bragging. The defense called no guilt-phase witnesses. The jury convicted Simmons of first-degree murder. In the penalty phase the State presented victim-impact testimony from Crook's family and proved three aggravating factors. The defense presented testimony from Simmons' family and a juvenile justice officer about his lack of prior record and family relationships, and both sides addressed his age as a mitigating factor. The jury recommended death, and the trial judge imposed it. Simmons obtained new counsel and moved for postconviction relief, arguing ineffective assistance because trial counsel had not presented evidence of his immaturity, impulsiveness, difficult home environment, substance abuse, and poor school performance. The trial court denied the motion. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal and the denial of postconviction relief. Federal habeas relief was also denied. After this Court decided Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, Simmons filed a new state postconviction petition arguing that Atkins required the same categorical exemption for juvenile offenders. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed, set aside the death sentence, and resentenced Simmons to life imprisonment without parole. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.