As a result of the case Furman vs. Georgia, The United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty on this day in 1972. The victory for capital punishment opponents was short-lived however, as states resisted the High Court’s opinion that it was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The man at the center of the court matter, William Henry Furman, robbed the home of William Micke Jr., a Savannah, Georgia man in 1967, killing him as he walked in. Furman claimed he shot blindly, and was put on death row in 1968.