Legal Opinion
Huggins v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Virginia
Decided October 9, 1972No. Record 7983PublishedCited by 33 opinions
1Opinion of the CourtPoff, J.
On November 5, 1971, Elly Joe Huggins was convicted of first-degree murder by a jury which fixed his punishment at death.
After we had granted a writ of error to the judgment order, the Supreme Court of the United States in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), ruled that state statutes which authorize discretionary imposition of the death penalty offend the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
Section 18.1-22 of the Code provides:
“Murder of the first degree shall be punished with death, or by confinement in the penitentiary for life, or for any term not…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Furman v. GeorgiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1972
- People v. AndersonCalifornia Supreme Court · 1972
- Hodges v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1972
- Snider v. CoxSupreme Court of Virginia · 1971
3Cited by33 opinions
- State v. CummingsSupreme Court of North Carolina · 2000
- Stockton v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1991
- Tichnell v. StateCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1981
- Richard Vines v. R. M. Muncy, Superintendent, James River Correctional Center, and the Attorney General of VirginiaCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1977
- Commonwealth v. HarringtonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1975
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