On November 21, 1973, Troy Gregg and a traveling companion, Floyd Allen were hitchhiking in north Florida. Fred Simmons and Bob Moore offered both men a ride. Their car broke down, but they continued north after Simmons purchased another vehicle. Sometime that night the men stopped at a rest stop along the way. The two men who gave Troy Gregg a ride were later found dead and Troy Gregg was arrested (Gregg v. Georgia 2-3). The charge against him stated that he had murdered and robbed two men, Simmons and Moore. A jury later found Gregg guilty of both offenses and at the sentencing stage the jury decided on the death penalty. Troy Gregg appealed his death sentence and the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of Gregg v. Georgia (Buranelli 97). Gregg argued that the death penalty violated his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court ruled in 1976, by a majority of 7-2, that the new state laws under which Gregg was sentenced to death did not violate the Constitution (Quarterly 245). The 1976 case of Gregg v. Georgia would turn out to be one of the most defining points in the history of the United States because it decided that the death penalty was not unlawful.
Many forms of punishment can be deemed "cruel and unusual-, but what exactly defines "cruel and unusual-? It would be considered "cruel and unusual punishment- to sentence a convicted man to be tossed into a cobra pit, according to the authors of The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. The authors also sat that most states grant the criminal his/her choice of two or more means of death, with the form of lethal injection at the top of the list (167).
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The Eighth Amendment, drafted in 1791, is part of the original first Ten Amendments of the Constitution. The Eighth Amendment reads as follows, "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted- (Greenberg A-10).
