Legal Opinion
Fleming v. Zant
Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided December 1, 1989No. S89A0241PublishedCited by 140 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
Clarke, Presiding Justice.
We granted this appeal from the denial of a petition for habeas corpus in order to consider the impact of the 1988 amendment to OCGA § 17-7-131 on the validity of Son Fleming’s death sentence.1 For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the new statute reflects a societal consensus against the execution of mentally retarded defendants. Executing a mentally retarded defendant would therefore constitute cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Georgia Constitution. We remand this case for a determination of whether Fleming has presented sufficient evidence to…
2Cases cited8 opinions
- Trop v. DullesSupreme Court of the United States · 1958
- Nebbia v. New YorkSupreme Court of the United States · 1934
- Coker v. GeorgiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1977
- Harris v. DuncanSupreme Court of Georgia · 1951
- Whitten v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1872
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3Cited by140 opinions
- Warren Lee Hill, Jr. v. Carl HumphreyCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2011
- Keith Tharpe v. WardenCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2016
- Head v. HillSupreme Court of Georgia · 2003
- People v. FloydCalifornia Supreme Court · 2003
- Bowling v. CommonwealthKentucky Supreme Court · 2005
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