When Lightning Strikes Back: South Carolina's Return to the Unconstitutional, Standardless Capital Sentencing Regime of the Pre- Furman Era
WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES BACK: SOUTH CAROLINA'S RETURN TO THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL, STANDARDLESS CAPITAL SENTENCING REGIME OF THE PRE- FURMAN ERA John H. Blume* Sheri L. Johnson* Emily C. Paavola*** and Keir M. Weyble***1 I. IN TRO D U CTIO N ............................................................... 481 II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: THE LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL EXPANSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA'S CAPITAL SENTENCING STATUTE ................................ 484 A. Relevant Legal Background ......................................... 484 B. South Carolina's Capital Sentencing Statute, as Written by the Legislature and Construed by the South Carolina Supreme Court, Does Not Perform the Constitutionally Mandated Narrowing Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, and Director, Cornell Death Penalty Project, Ithaca, N.Y. ** Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, and Co-director, Cornell Death Penalty Project, Ithaca, N.Y. - Executive Director, Death Penalty Resource & Defense Center, Columbia, S.C. **** Director of Death Penalty Litigation, Cornell Death Penalty Project, Ithaca, N.Y. 1. We would like to thank the participants at the Crime and Punishment 2nd Annual Law & Society Symposium at the Charleston School of Law for their helpful comments. We thank the participants at the faculty workshop at the University of South Carolina School of Law for their helpful comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank Henry Blume, Colleen Holland, Matthew Henry, Jesse Horn, Kim Knudsen, Katherine Latham, Katherine O'Brien, and Grant Resnick for their data collection assistance, and Anthony Traurig for his research and editorial assistance. HeinOnline -- 4 Charleston L. Rev. 479 2009-2010 CHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 4 F u n ction ........................................................................ 490 1. Legislative Adoption and Expansion of South Carolina's Capital Sentencing Scheme .................
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