In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a vote of
5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the
state and federal level, is unconstitutional. The majority held that,
in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the
death penalty qualified as “cruel and unusual punishment,”
primarily because states employed execution in “arbitrary and
capricious ways,” especially in regard to race. It was the first
time that the nation’s highest court had ruled against capital
punishment. However, because the Supreme Court suggested
new legislation that could make death sentences constitutional
again, such as the development of standardized guidelines for
juries that decide sentences, it was not an outright victory for
opponents of the death penalty.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Singer/Dancer Paula Julie Abdul IS 60 years
young today.

Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945)

On this day, Pvt. Eddie Slovik becomes the first American soldier
since the Civil War to be executed for desertion-and the only one
who suffered such a fate during World War II.

Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying
sentences for desertion during the war, including 49 death
sentences, Slovik’s death sentence was the only one that was
carried out.

ROSS SIMPSON

1989

Ceausescu and his wife.