The year is 1983, the third of February, William Wayne Thompson, his half-brother and 2 other men have brutally murdered Wayne’s former brother-in-law, who had “repeatedly physically abused” Wayne’s sister. Wayne is 15 at the time.

The other three, who had been over 16, were tried and sentenced to death. But as Wayne had been 15, he presented a problem. He was a juvenile, and while the punishment procedure was clear for adults it grew hazy regarding children. The court wanted to try him as an adult. They did, and he was senten

They stated that the 6th, 8th, and 14th Amendment had been broken. The “inflammatory pictures” broke the right to an impartial judge (6th), as well as violating the procedure of due process (14th). Imposing the death penalty on a minor was counted as cruel and unusual punishment (8th).

Oklahoma argued with the following: Thompson was treated as an adult by Oklahoma law. When the crime is considered “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel”, it is not cruel and unusual punishment to impose the death sentence on a minor. The court had decided he was an adult and so his age was not given “great weight” as a mitigating factor. At the sentence hearing, the use of photos helped show the crime to be “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel”.

By a vote of

Some topics in this essay:
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